| “ | Down with the communists and the Civil War! Long live the Constituent Assembly!
— Black Eagle slogan
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” |
Black Eagle was a group of peasant rebels in the Ufa Governorate (present-day Tatarstan and Bashkortostan), in southwestern Russian formed in February, 1920. The rebels, armed mostly with improvised weapons such as pitchforks and axes, resisted forced food confiscations by the new Soviet Regime. The rebellion started when the peasants overrun and killed a number of Red Army troops sent to seize crops from them. The peasants then assassinated multiple pro-Soviet officials in Menzelinsk and Zainsk, with the uprising eventually spreading to parts of the Kazan and Samara governorates, with rebels forming a cohesive organization under I. Milovanov, declaring themselves in support of the Consituent Assembly, a more moderate socialist opposition to the Bolsheviks. The rebels numbered over 50,000 men.
In Mid-March, 1920, the Red Army retaliated, crushing the lightly armed peasants with artillery and machine guns, killing 3000 rebels and burning down villages. In spite of their mostly improvised weaponry, the Black Eagle rebels managed to kill 800 Red Army soldiers before they were put down.
Battle vs. Blair Mountain Rebel (by SPARTAN 119)[]
Five Black Eagle rebels walked through a mountain forest, wondering where they were and how they got there. Up ahead, they saw a group of men standing around a caches of guns and ammuntion. The Black Eagle rebels approached cautiously and called out to the groups.
One of the Blair Mountain rebels turned the intruders and, deciding they were a threat, lowered his rifle at them, before yelling, "Y'all get away from here, you hear me!".
A Black Eagle Rebel armed with a Mosin-Nagant took aim at the man who aimed his rifle and, seeing it as threat, fired. The bullet struck the Blair Mountain Rebel in his chest, causing him to crumple to the ground, dead. 
The Blair Mountain rebels all grabbed guns from the stockpile and opened fire. One of the miners, who carried an army surplus Springfield M1903 shot the Black Eagle who started the fight in the head. The Russian rebel collapsed immediately. 
The two groups shot at each other, bullets whizzing over their heads, striking trees and rock, and kicking up the dirt around them.
One of the Black Eagle Rebels, who did not have a gun, only a pitchfork, went unnoticed in the chaos of the firefight as he crept up the slope, behind the Blair Mountain rebels, before lunging out from behind a large boulder and catching a Blair Mountain Rebel in the back, all three prongs of the pitchfork punching straight through and poking out his chest.
The Black Eagle Rebel with the pitchfork let go of the farm implement and grabbed the rifle, which the mortally wounded Blair Mountain rebel dropped at his feet. Before he could get off a shot, however, a Blair Mountain rebel spotted him and shot him with his sidearm, an old Smith and Wesson No. 3 revolver. The Black Eagle rebel was hit by two bullets to the chest and collapsed to the ground.
The distraction of the flank attack was what the Black Eagle Rebels needed. A Blair Mountain Rebel who turned to look at the commotion was hit by a 7.62mm Russian rifle round in the side of the head and fell immediately. Soon after, a second Blair Mountain rebel was struck by three bullets from Nagant revolver.
The last Blair Mountain rebel fired his Springfield, hitting one of the oncoming Black Eagle rebels with a well-placed shot to the center mass, dropping him immediately. Unfortunately for the last miner, he was hit by fire from the both of the surviving Black Eagle rebels, his chest pierced by two revolver round and rifle bullet.
The surviving Black Eagle rebels walked over to the hole in the ground the Blair rebels had been guarding. Inside were dozens of guns, including various models of rifles, pistols, and shotguns, as well as ammunition and even a few sticks of dynamite. This would be most valuable in the fight for their cause. Now they just needed to figure out where they were and how to get it back to their comrades.
WINNER: Black Eagle Rebel
Expert's Opinion[]
The experts believed the Black Eagle Rebels would win this battle in spite of their inferior logistics and skill with firearms because of their sheer tenacity and brutality. Armed mostly with improvised weapons, they nonetheless took control of parts of multiple Soviet governorates and even killed 800 Soviet soldiers who were armed with rifles, machine guns, and artillery. The Blair Mountain rebels put up a valiant fight, but never challenged forces of this magnitude.
To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.
Battle vs. Boxers (Rebels) (by SPARTAN 119)[]
Boxers: 
Black Eagle:
Eight Black Eagle Rebels stood on the south side of a central square a village, four armed with firearms of some description, but the other four armed with only axes or pitchforks. From the road to the north, a group of eight Boxers enter the town, four carrying guns or, in one case, a repeating crossbow, while the rest carried swords or spears.
The groups stared at each other for several minutes, before the Boxer leader, seeing that the men on the other side of the square were Europeans, gave a shout in Chinese and raised a butterfly sword in his hand.
The Black Eagle leader, a veteran of the First World War and the best shot of the group raised his Mosin-Nagant rifle and shot the Boxer leader, who collapsed to the ground instantly.
The Boxers with guns opened fire, prompting the Black Eagle leader to frantically shout for his comrades to take cover. Four of the Black Eagle rebels too cover behind a stack of numerous sacks of grain or in the interior of a general store, but four of the Black Eagles, all armed with edged weapons charged out to meet the Boxers.
The first Black Eagle charger was shot in the chest twice by bullets from Hanyang rifle, collapsing to the floor, while a second lunged at a Boxer with a pitchfork and managed to catch a strike from a Boxer's butterfly sword between the prongs. The Black Eagle, however, did not realized the Boxer had a second blade, and was stabbed twice in the chest.
A Black Eagle rebel with a hatchet ran at the Boxer that just killed in his comrade. As the Boxer pulled his butterfly sword out of the chest of the newest kill, the Black Eagle lodged a hatchet in his skull, killing him instantly. The Black Eagle's revenge was short lived- he was struck by a poisoned bolt from a repeating crossbow. The poison didn't kill him instantly, but it made him easy prey for a Boxer armed with a spear, who ran him through the chest.
The last Black Eagle charger tried to flee back to the safety of the general store, only to be struck three times by a Boxer armed with an M1879 revolver he scavenged off a fallen German soldier. With all of the Black Eagle chargers dead, however, the Boxers swordsmen, who continued their charge. The four surviving Black Eagles, who all had firearms, opened fire, mowing down all three of the Boxer swordsmen and spearmen.
After taking down of a Boxer rebel with his improvised Mosin-Obrez pistol one of the Black Eagles broke cover for just a moment too long, and was struck in the head by stray bullet from a Hanyang At the same time, a Black Eagle was struck by two crossbow bolts. Struggling against the pain, the Russian rebel got up and fired off his Nagant revolver at the Boxers. One bullet was a lucky shot, killing the Boxer armed with the crossbow.
With only two Black Eagles left, the three surviving Boxers pressed the attack across the square. One of their number was shot by the Black Eagle leader , but he was quickly avenged by one of the Boxers, who shot the second-to-land Black Eagle.
The Black Eagle leader fired his rifle, but heard only the click of an empty chamber as the Boxers burst into the general store. Diving behind the counter, he hoped he would the were some guns or ammunition for sale in the store, but if there ever were, they had been ransacked in the rebellion. The most he found was a pitchfork.
As bullets whizzed over his head, the Black Eagle leader saw his life flash before his eyes. One particular series of images were particularly vivid in his head, being conscripted into army of the Tsar... Tannenberg... Galicia... the Brusilov Offensive... In his mind, the pitchfork transformed into a rifle like the one he had abandoned so recently, but equipped with a bayonet. He burst up from behind the counter with a shout. One of the Boxers was caught by surprise and run through, the look of shock burned into his eyes as he was pinned against the wall by the ferocious charge.
Less than a second later, the Black Eagle felt first one sharp jab of pain, then two, then three. Looking down at his chest, he saw a sword blade punch though his chest, as his vision went blurry, before he finally collapsed to the floor.
The Boxer rebel behind the blade raised his sword and yelled "Death to the foreign barbarians!"
Expert's Opinion[]
The Boxers won this battle thank to their superior training. While they were mostly trained in melee combat, many of the Black Eagles (save for those who might have been veterans of World War I) had no training at all. The Boxers also proved more difficult to put down, even for a modern army with far superior weaponry.