 Before the end of the occupation, German soldiers supervised the creation of several "Selbstschutz" units, leaving weapons, ammunition, and a few officers to command the groups.Together with a neighboring Lutheran German colony, the young men from Molotschna formed twenty companies totaling 2,700 infantry and 300 cavalry.During the Russian Civil War, these forces were initially successful in holding back the forces of anarchist Nestor Makhno until March 1919.