Rüdiger von der Goltz
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| Rüdiger Graf von der Goltz | |
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| Born | December 8, 1865 Züllichau, Prussia |
|---|---|
| Died | November 4, 1946 Allgäu, Germany |
| Occupation | Major General |
Gustav Adolf Joachim Rüdiger Graf von der Goltz (December 8, 1865 – November 4, 1946) was the commander of the German Baltische Landeswehr, which played an instrumental role in the defeat of Russian Bolsheviks and their local allies in Finland (1918) and Latvia (1919), but were eventually unsuccessful in retaining German control over the Baltic region after World War I.
Von der Goltz was born in Züllichau (Sulechów) in the Province of Brandenburg. A Major-General commanding the German infantry division of Guards on Foot in France, von der Goltz was transferred to Finland in March 1918 to help the nationalist government in the civil war against the Finnish "Reds" and Soviet Russian troops. He commanded the German expedition unit ("Baltic Sea Division") which landed at Hanko, Finland, between April 3-April 5, 1918, and then marched on the Bolshevik-controlled capital Helsinki, which surrendered on April 13, 1918. The German military intervention enabled the nationalist government of Finland to gain control over most of the country by May 1918.
After the November 11, 1918, armistice, the Inter-Allied Commission of Control insisted that the German troops remain in the Baltic states to prevent the region from being re-occupied by the Red Army. As many of the demoralised German soldiers were being withdrawn from Latvia, a Freikorps unit called the Iron Division (Eiserne Brigade) was formed and deployed in Riga and used to delay the Red advance. New volunteers arriving from Germany and remnants of the German 8th Army were subsequently added to the Iron Division, which was assigned under the command of General von der Goltz. Also, Baltic Germans and some Latvians formed the Baltische Landeswehr, led by Major Alfred Fletcher.
In late February 1919 only the seaport of Liepāja (Libau) remained in the hands of the German and Latvian forces. In March 1919, General von der Goltz was able to win a series of victories over the Red Army, first occupying Ventspils (Windau), the major port of Courland, and then advancing south and east to retake Riga.
After the Bolsheviks had been driven out from most of Latvia, the Allies ordered the German government to withdraw its troops from the Baltic region. However, the Germans succeeded in negotiating a postponement, arguing that this would have given the Bolsheviks a free hand. General von der Goltz then attempted to seize control of Latvia with the assistance of the local German population. The Latvian nationalist government was deposed while White Russian units and the Freikorps moved on to capture Riga on May 23, 1919. The Latvian nationalists sought assistance from the Estonian army which had been occupying northern Latvia since earlier that year.
In June 1919, General von der Goltz ordered his troops not to advance east against the Red Army, as the Allies had been expecting, but north, against the Estonians. On June 19, the Iron Division and Landeswehr units launched an attack to capture areas around Cēsis (Wenden), however, in the battles over the following few days, they were defeated by the Estonian army (led by Johan Laidoner) and nationalist Latvian units. On the morning of June 23, the Germans began a general retreat toward Riga. The Allies again insisted that the Germans withdraw their remaining troops from Latvia and intervened to impose a ceasefire between the Estonians and the Freikorps when the Estonians were about to march into Riga. The British insisted that General von der Goltz leave Latvia, and he turned his troops over to Bermondt-Avalov's White Russian Army.
Count von der Goltz later claimed in his memoirs that his major strategic goal in 1919 had been to launch a campaign in cooperation with the White Russian forces to overturn the Bolshevik regime by marching on St. Petersburg and to install a pro-German government in Russia. He died in Kinsegg, Allgäu, Germany.
[edit] Bibliography
- Goltz Rüdiger von der, Meine Sendung im Finland und im Baltikum, Leipzig 1920.
- Bermond-Awaloff Pavel, Im Kampf gegen den Bolschevismus. Erinnerungen von..., Berlin 1925.
- BischoffJosef, Die letzte Front. Geschichte der Eiserne Division im Baltikum 1919, Berlin 1935.
- 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.
- Die baltische Landeswehr im Befreiungskampf gegen den Bolschevismus. Ein Gedenkbuch, herausgegeben vom baltischen Landeswehrein, Riga 1929.
- Kiewisz Leon, Sprawy łotewskie w bałtyckiej polityce Niemiec 1914-1919, Poznań 1970.
- Łossowski Piotr, Między wojną a pokojem. Niemieckie zamysły wojenne na wschodzie w obliczu traktatu wersalskiego. Marzec-kwiecień 1919, Warszawa 1976.
- Paluszyński Tomasz, Walka o niepodległość Łotwy 1914-1920, Warszawa 1999.
- 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.
