During World War I, Taganrog was occupied by the troops of the German Army from May until August 1918. In 1919, General Anton Denikin established his headquarters at the Avgerino mansion in the city while commanding White Russian troops fighting in South Russia during the Russian Civil War. When the White Russians were defeated and Bolshevik power was established in the city on December 25, 1919, Denikin's remaining troops and the British Consulate were evacuated by HMS "Montrose". Full power was granted to the Executive Committee of The City Soviet Workers' council on December 17, 1920, and Taganrog briefly joined the Ukrainian SSR as the administrative center of Taganrog Okrug, until it was transferred to the Russian SFSR along with Shakhty Okrug on October 1, 1924. During World War II, Taganrog was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1943 during Operation Barbarossa, when two SS divisions entered the city on October 17, 1941, followed by Wehrmacht divisions, with the city suffering extensive damage. The occupation led to the local government system being replaced by German-style "Bürgermeisteramt" (Mayor's Office), which governed the city until it was liberated by the Red Army on August 30, 1943.