On 4 March, the Siberian Army of the Whites began its advance. On 8 March it captured Okhansk and Osa and continued its advance to the Kama river. On 10 April they captured Sarapul and closed in on Glazov. On 15 April soldiers of Siberian Army's right flank made contact with detachments of the Northern Front in a sparsely populated area near the Pechora River.

On 6 March Hanzhin's Western Army stroke between the Red 5th and 2nd Armies. After four days of fighting the Red 5th Army was crushed, its remains retreated onto Simbirsk and Samara. The Reds had no forces to cover Chistopol with its bread storages. It was a strategical breakthrough, the commanders of Red's 5th Army fled from Ufa and the White Western Army captured Ufa without a fight on 16 March. On 6 April they took Sterlitamak, Belebey the next day and Bugulma on 10 April.

In the South, Dutov's Orenburg Cossacks conquered Orsk on 9 April and advanced towards Orenburg.

After receiving information about the defeat of the 5th Army, Mikhail Frunze, who had become commander of the Red Southern Army Group, decided not to advance, but to defend his positions and wait for reinforcements. As a result the Red Army was able to stop the White advance on the southern flank and to prepare its counteroffensive. The White Army had made a strategical breakthrough in the center, but the Red Army had been able to prepare its counteroffensive on the southern flank.