A civil war rages between the revolutionary Bolsheviks and the anti-communist White Armies. On the banks of the great Volga River, the town of Tsaritsyn stands as one of Russia's most important industrial centers and the gateway to central Russia. Having laid siege to Tsaritsyn on three previous occasions, the White Army, now aided by British tanks and planes, finally succeeded in capturing the town. These counter-revolutionaries, mostly Cossacks and old Imperial forces, hope to use this victory to secure southern Russia and ultimately launch an assault on Moscow, the seat of Bolshevik power. However, the Red Army with its radical but popular ideologies still controlled the central regions. This meant that most of the country's oil and grain were under Bolshevik control. With winter fast approaching, the Bolsheviks thought that the White Army would be too weak to hold the town for much longer.