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In January 1972, Taboritsky suffered yet another stroke in Vyatka. This time, though, he reportedly saw a vision of the Tsarevich Alexei returning back to his father's palace in Petrograd, the former capital, now under the German Reichskommissariat Moskowien. The Blessed Regent then demanded that an expedition (Operation Romanov) be permitted to search for Alexei in Moscow and Petrograd. Albert Speer, then Führer of the Germans, refused.

Outraged, the Regent raised an army of three million men on the border along the Volga. On February 24th, 1972, taking advantage of instability and rivalry within the Reich's Gang of Four, the first troops under the command of Viktor Larionov crossed the border from Gorky, starting the Second Volga War.

At first, the Regency made brilliant successes in the north by capturing Petrograd in 2 weeks and Moscow in 3 weeks, severely weakening the Germans with chemical weapons. However progress comes to a halt as HRR forces face heavy resistance in occupied territories. Eventually, Germans start launching their own chemical attacks. Taboritsky then shifts focus to the Caucasus whose forces surrender in a week.

But Taboritsky's declining health worried several Shturmoviki and military commanders, including Larionov himself. The latter decided to give command to Anatoly Motsny in his absence. But Motsny didn't manage to prevent Operation Große Befreiung, the German counter-attack. His defeat at Valdai marked the end of the Russian advance, with the remainder of his troops fleeing back to Petrograd.

Taboritsky's death on June 17th, 1972, marks the end of the Second Volga War and the beginning of the Second Russian Anarchy.

Second Volga War