West Russian Volunteer Army

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West Russian Volunteer Army - was a counterrevolutionary army in the Baltic provinces of the former Russian Empire during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920. Western Russian Volunteer Army unlike pro-Entente Volunteer Army was supported and in fact created by Germany. It was led by a Cossack general Pavel Bermont-Avalov who recruited about 50 000 men in close co-operation with German general Rüdiger von der Goltz. West Russian Volunteer Army originally known as "Special Russian Corps" was made up mostly of Baltic Germans as well as some Russian POWs captured by Germany in World War I and then released on the promise that they would help fighting against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.

In October of 1919 West Russian Volunteer Army attacked the newly-independent states of Lithuania and Latvia, to which Germany had granted independence. It has briefly occupied Riga and government of Kārlis Ulmanis had to request military help from Lithuania and Estonia. Estonians sent two armoured trains to aid Latvians (according to some explanations, in exchange for Latvia ceding the island of Ruhnu and its territorial waters to Estonia) while Lithuanians stayed away fearing German interference. Latvians also received assistance from the guns of the British battleship in Riga harbor. In November Latvian army managed to drive Bermont-Avalov forces into Lithuanian territory. Finally, West Russian Volunteer Army suffered heavy defeats from Lithuanians near Radviliškis, a major railway centre. After interference by the Entente military mission remaining elements of West Russian Volunteer Army withdrew from the Baltics to Germany.

[edit] Bibliography

  1. Goltz Rüdiger von der, Meine Sendung im Finland und im Baltikum, Leipzig 1920.
  2. Bermond-Awaloff Pavel, Im Kampf gegen den Bolschevismus. Erinnerungen von..., Berlin 1925.
  3. BischoffJosef, Die letzte Front. Geschichte der Eiserne Division im Baltikum 1919, Berlin 1935.
  4. Darstellungen aus den Nachkriegskämpfen deutscher Truppen und Freikorps, Bd 2: Der Feldzug im Baltikum bis zur zweiten Einnahme von Riga. Januar bis Mai 1919, Berlin 1937; Bd 3: Die Kämpfe im Baltikum nach der zweiten Einnahme von Riga. Juni bis Dezember 1919, Berlin 1938.
  5. Die Baltische Landeswehr im Befreiungskampf gegen den Bolschewismus, Riga 1929.
  6. Eesti Vabadussõda 1918-1920, Tallinn, Mats, 1997. ISBN 9985-51-028-3.
  7. Kiewisz Leon, Sprawy łotewskie w bałtyckiej polityce Niemiec 1914-1919, Poznań 1970.
  8. Paluszyński Tomasz, Walka o niepodległość Łotwy 1914-1920, Warszawa 1999.
  9. Von den baltische Provinzen zu den baltischen Staaten. Beiträge zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Republiken Estland und Lettland, Bd I (1917-1918), Bd II (1919-1920), Marburg 1971, 1977.

[edit] See also

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