Pavel Bermondt-Avalov

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pavel Rafalovich Bermondt-Avalov (Avalishvili) (Russian: Павел Рафалович Бермонт-Авалов, Latvian: Pāvels Bermonts-Avalovs) (4 March 1877 - 27 January 1974, New York, NY)^[1] was an Ussuri Cossack and warlord. He descended from the Georgian princely family of Avalishvili (Avalov) on his mother's side.

Bermondt-Avalov was appointed to lead the German-established Russian army (subsequently frequently known after his name as "the Bermontians") which was meant to go to fight the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War, but, believing that communists would be defeated without his help, Pavel Bermondt-Avalov decided to strike against the newly independent nations of Lithuania and Latvia instead. His "Special Russians Corps" supposedly numbered about 50,000 men, mostly Baltic Germans as well as some Russian POWs recruited from Germans camps, but is unlikely to have numbered more than 20,000 fighting men. He was one of the few anti-communist generals who openly propagandized monarchist ideals.

Bermondt-Avalov was promoted Major General in 1918. He took over the White Forces in the Baltic from Prince Anatoly Liven, who commanded a contingent in the Baltische Landwehr. In 1919, his forces joined those of Major General Rüdiger von der Goltz to form the so-called "Western Volunteer Army" (Западная добровольческая армия) which attempted to proclaim the "Western Central Government" in Riga. The Bermontians managed to capture a large part of Samogitia and western Latvia and entered Riga, but later were defeated by the Lithuanian and Latvian armies, with the help of the Estonian forces. This Baltic diversion of Avalov heavily contributed to his already existing reputation as an adventurer(such as General Bulak-Balakovich).

Pavel Bermondt-Avalov then emigrated to Western Europe, where he published a book of memoirs. He also sympathised with German Nazis. Pavel Bermondt-Avalov died in New York City.

[edit] Bibliography

1. Bermondt-Avalov, Pavel (1925). Im Kampf gegen den Bolschewismus. Erinnerungen von General Fürst Awaloff, Oberbefehlshaber der Deutsch-Russischen Westarmee im Baltikum. (in German). Glückstadt, Hamburg: Verlag J.J. Augustin. OCLC 15188750. 
2. Paluszyński Tomasz, Walka o niepodległość Łotwy, Warszawa 1999.
3. Валерий Клавинг, Гражданская война в России: Белые армии. Военно-историческая библиотека, Москвa, 2003.

[edit] References