reappeared in Moscow. There he was pardoned and spared punishment, on the condition that he would never again meddle in politics. The Samara revolt was crushed by Bolshevik forces. During the Civil War Dybenko left Moscow. In order to keep him as far as possible from the Baltic Navy, Lenin gave him a low-rank military job, as a battalion commander, at the "No-man's land" between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine was occupied by the German army as the outcome of the Brest peace, and after the German capitulation and retreat of the German army, the situation there devolved into a chaotic "war of all against all". In the winter 1918, Dybenko's troops conquered some towns near the Russian-Ukraine border in the Kharkov (now Kharkiv) district. Dybenko tried then to cooperate with non-Bolshevik leftist political forces, especially with the Left SR, but also with Maximalists and Anarchists, all having some military forces, who tried to achieve independence in Ukraine. However, this attempt brought no results. The non-Bolshevik troops were disarmed. In the beginning of 1919, Dybenko unexpectedly received a general-rank appointment as the commander of the Red Army forces which invaded Ukraine, in particularly, the 1st Trans-Dniepr division. This division had 10000 soldiers, and included the anarchist brigades of Makhno and Hryhoriv. Trotsky selected him for this role because of his Ukrainian name and origin. It could help the Bolsheviks to pretend it was just another military force acting in the Ukrainian chaos, rather than an "official invasion". During the spring of 1919, Dybenko's forces destroyed all non-Bolshevik political forces in Ukraine. In Ekaterinoslav (current Dnipro), he arrested and executed all S.R. activists. In Zaporizhia he executed the members of the local Soviet, the elected local authority. The Dybenko troops supplied their own needs robbing both the local population, and the trains carrying coal and provisions to Russia. In April 1919 Dybenko disregarded the orders of his superiors and invaded Crimea, instead of moving his forces into the eastern Ukraine (Donbas). As a result of this insubordination, the White army conquered Donbas and later in August to December 1919 conquered the rest of Ukraine, other than Crimea. Dybenko created what he called "The Crimean Soviet Army", with 9000 men, independent from the Ukrainian Front. He created the Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic, and invited Lenin's brother Dmitry Ulianov, to be the prime minister there. Kollontai also joined him. For himself he reserved the