Troubles. 1919 year. Simultaneously with the campaign against Petrograd of the North-Western army of Yudenich, the offensive of the Western Volunteer Army of Bermondt-Avalov began on Riga. The hype was terrible. The Baltic limitrophes accused the Russians of all sins and pulled all combat-ready forces to the city. The British fleet has arrived.
Adventurer Bermondt-Avalov
There was no single anti-Soviet North-Western Front. In the Baltic region, the interests of the great powers opposed - Germany and England (Entente), the Baltic limitrophes - Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Soviet Russia, and the White Guards, who had different orientations. Thus, the detachments of the North-Western Army were oriented towards the Entente, and the Western Volunteer Army of Bermondt-Avalov - towards Germany. In addition, monarchist sentiments prevailed in the units created with the help of the Germans.
Prince Pavel Rafailovich Bermondt-Avalov was a very interesting person. A real adventurer who, during the turmoil, was able to occupy a high post and claimed leadership in the White movement of the North-West of Russia. He acted on a grand scale and imagination. Even its origin is still unknown. Was born in 1877 in Tiflis. According to one version, his father was the Karaite Raphael Bermondt (Karaimism is a religious doctrine within Judaism), according to the other, he belonged to the princely Georgian family of Avalishvili. He was also considered an Ussuri Cossack. Bermondt-Avalov himself said that he was adopted by Prince Mikhail Avalov (the first husband of his mother, the second husband was Raphael Bermondt).
Bermondt (Bermond) received a musical education, began military service in 1901 as a bandmaster in the Argun regiment of the Trans-Baikal Cossack army. Participant in the war with Japan, awarded the 3rd and 4th degree St. George's Crosses. In 1906 he was transferred to the Ussuri Cossack regiment and from that time, according to the documents, passed as an Ussuri Cossack. Then he served in the St. Petersburg Uhlan regiment, rose to the rank of cornet. A participant in the First World War, he rose to the rank of captain, was somewhat wounded, and was noted for bravery. He was noted in Petrograd by his adventures in restaurants and gambling houses, was involved in dubious matters. After the February Revolution, he was elected commander of the St. Petersburg Uhlan regiment. The provisional government awarded him the rank of colonel, but Avalov was a member of the officers' organization, which was preparing a speech against the government.
After the October Revolution he left for Little Russia. In the summer of 1918, Avalov joined the Southern Army, which was being formed with the support of the Germans. He served as the head of the counterintelligence department of the army and the head of its Kiev recruiting bureau. After the capture of Kiev by the Petliurites, the prince was seized and sentenced to death, but with the help of German "friends" he was able to get out of prison and was evacuated with German troops.
Army of German "friends"
Germany, even after the November Revolution and surrender in November 1918, tried to keep the Baltics in its sphere of influence. In December 1918, the Provisional Government of Latvia, headed by Ulmanis, concluded an agreement with the Germans on the formation of a militia (landeswehr) to fight the Bolsheviks. The recruitment of fighters came from the 8th German Army stationed in the Baltic States, Baltic Germans and volunteers from Germany, where there were many demobilized soldiers and officers who were left without work and income. They were promised Latvian citizenship and land in Courland. Also, the Germans recruited Russian volunteers from among the prisoners of war who were in the camps in Germany. This was how Bischoff's Iron Division and other units were formed. Weapons, ammunition and funding were provided by Germany. Fortunately, weapons and uniforms in the Baltic States remained a lot from the army of the collapsed Second Reich. The German forces were led by Count Rudiger von der Goltz, who had previously headed the German expeditionary force in Finland, where the Germans fought on the side of the White Finns.
The Germans also helped to form several Russian detachments. In January 1919 Lieven formed and headed the "Libau Volunteer Rifle Detachment", which, together with units of the Baltic Landeswehr, at the end of May 1919, drove the Reds out of Riga. Since that time, replenishments have regularly come from Germany and Poland, where there were earlier camps for Russian prisoners and now a system of recruiting and sending volunteers under the leadership of Senator Bellegarde was in effect. Lieven's detachment reached 3, 5 thousand fighters, was well armed and uniform. Also, with the support of the Germans, two Russian volunteer detachments were formed - the "Detachment named after Count Keller" under the command of Avalov in Mitava and the detachment of Colonel Vyrgolich (former gendarme colonel) in Lithuania, in Shavly (Shauliai). Formally, the detachments of Avalov and Vyrgolich united in the Western Corps of the North-Western Army and were subordinate to Lieven, but, in fact, they were independent.
The principles of manning the detachments of Bermondt and Vyrgolich were very different from the troops of Lieven. Lieven took only officers and soldiers of the Russian service, and he selected them by careful selection. The headquarters and rear divisions (they often became the shelter of all sorts of rabble) were reduced to a minimum. Replenishments were immediately poured into the rifle companies and sent to the front. The detachments of Bermondt-Avalov and Vyrgolich accepted everyone indiscriminately, including former German officers and soldiers. Numerous headquarters were formed, units without soldiers. Thanks to this, in the summer, Avalov already had 5 thousand people, and Vyrgolich had 1.5 thousand soldiers. Then these units grew even more - up to 10 and 5 thousand, respectively. All three detachments were armed and supplied at the expense of the Germans.
In July 1919, Yudenich ordered the transfer of the Western Corps to the Narva direction. But before that, at the request of the Entente, the corps had to be cleared of German and pro-German elements. By order of the head of the British mission, General Gough, two battalions of Lieven's detachment (he himself was absent, was seriously wounded), stationed in Libau, unexpectedly, without carts and artillery, were loaded onto English transport and transported to Narva and Reval. Thus, the British wanted to cleanse Courland of Russians and weaken the position of the Germans. This trick of the British alarmed and angered many. There were especially many dissatisfied in the detachments of Avalov and Vyrgolich, where there were enough pro-German elements. The command demanded from the Entente guarantees of supply and allowances on the same scale as under the Germans. The Allies refused to give such guarantees. Then Colonels Bermondt-Avalov and Vyrgolich refused to transfer troops to the Narva sector under the pretext that the formation of their units had not yet been completed. In fact, Avalov did not want to leave Latvia in order to keep the Russian military force there. With the support of the military, human and material resources of Germany, it was planned to establish Russian power in the Baltic States and only then, having received a strategic foothold and a rear base, to fight the Bolsheviks.
Thus, the West Corps disintegrated. Lieven's headquarters and detachment went to Narva, where they became the 5th Lieven division of the North-Western Army. Yudenich tried to reason with Avalov, personally traveled to Riga, but the obstinate colonel did not even want to meet with him. Then Yudenich declared him a traitor, the detachments of Bermondt and Vyrgolich were excluded from the SZA. True, they were not particularly sad about this. Avalov promoted himself to general. With the support of the Germans, the West Russian government (ZRP) was formed, headed by the general and monarchist Biskupsky. The ZRP was not recognized by either the Kolchak government or the Entente. Avalov did not want to obey the civilian government, and in early October the functions of the Western Russian government were transferred to the Council of Western Russia (Council of Administration of Western Russia), headed by Count Palen, who was under the commander of the army.
The Germans gave the ZRP and the Avalov army a loan of 300 million marks. In September 1919, General von der Goltz, under pressure from the Entente, was recalled from the Baltic states to Germany. The German formations were officially abolished. However, trying to maintain military power in the Baltic States and thereby have an instrument of influence in the region, the Germans made a deft maneuver. The German military demobilized from the von der Goltz corps immediately began to join the Bermondt-Avalov corps under the guise of volunteers. In addition, the German soldiers hoped that in this way they would be able to stay in Courland, receive local citizenship and land, which the Latvian government promised them as a reward for fighting the Bolsheviks. As a result, they were deceived, the new Baltic governments began to pursue a national-chauvinist policy under the slogan "beat the Germans", expelling and seizing their lands.
The headquarters was in Mitava. The Western Volunteer Army (ZDA) occupied the territory between Latvians and Lithuanians. It was pretty calm here. The Red 15th Army, which held this direction, was in an unsatisfactory condition, it was greatly weakened by the transfer of the best units to other fronts. ZDA fought a little with the Reds, carried out operations against partisans, but in general life was quite peaceful. The Germans generously and reliably supplied Avalov's army with everything necessary, weapons, ammunition, ammunition and provisions. Since the time of the World War, when the front stood near Riga for a long time, large army warehouses were located in Courland. Much was brought in during the German offensive against Soviet Russia. According to the Versailles agreement, all this would have gone to the Entente. Therefore, von der Goltz calmly and generously shared his good with the Russian comrades so that the military property would not go to the British with the French, or the Balts, who deceived his soldiers.
Thus, many thousands of Germans joined the Western Volunteer Army, created in September 1919, under the command of Bermondt-Avalov. A total of about 40 thousand people. Russians in the army were in the minority - about 15 thousand people. Avalov received a whole army and well-armed: many guns and machine guns, 4 armored trains, an air squadron. This powerful force had to be reckoned with (for comparison, the Finnish army at that time numbered 60 thousand people). On September 5, Yudenich appointed Avalov commander of the troops in Latvia and Courland. On September 20, the commander announced that, as a "representative of the Russian state power," he assumed all power in the Baltic, ignoring the fact of Latvia's sovereignty. Perhaps at this time Avalov felt like a "Russian Napoleon". This was his finest hour. True, he was not suitable for this role, painfully loved the joys of life (wine, women). The prince received great independence, did not obey the Entente and Yudenich, who depended on the allies. He even created his own personal government headed by Palen.
Avalov's hike
On August 26, 1919, a meeting was held in Riga, held by the British, in which representatives of all anti-Soviet forces in the region took part: the North-Western Army, the Western Russian Army, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The plan was broad: a general offensive against Soviet Russia was scheduled for September 15th. ZDA was supposed to advance on Dvinsk - Velikiye Luki - Bologoye in order to intercept the Nikolaev railway, which connected Moscow with Petrograd.
However, when Yudenich's army marched on Petrograd, the former captain and Ussuri Cossack Prince Avalov also decided to launch an offensive. On October 6, 1919, the ZDA put forward an ultimatum demand to let it pass through the territory of Latvia to the "Bolshevik front" and began to move from Mitava towards Dvinsk. The Latvian government refused. The first clashes between Bermondtians and Latvian troops began. On October 7, Avalov's army moved to Riga. Having defeated and dispersed the Baltic units that had blockaded Courland, on October 8, his troops reached Riga. Only the destroyed bridges across the Western Dvina detained the Bermondtians. The city was defended only by weak self-defense units. On October 9, the White Guards occupied the outskirts of Riga and Avalov proposed an armistice to the Latvian government.
Avalov's trip to Riga caused a terrible commotion. The Baltic governments forgot about Yudenich's campaign against Petrograd. The newspapers blamed the Russians for all their sins. In particular, it was reported that Bermondt's plans are to annex Latvia and Estonia to Russia, these are also the plans of Yudenich, Kolchak and Denikin. They called for help from the British. All the combat-ready Latvian and Estonian regiments were pulled to Riga, the Estonian units were removed from the front, where they were supposed to support the offensive of Yudenich's NWA. The British fleet arrived and began shelling the ZDA positions. The coalition was led by the head of the allied mission, General Nissel, who had just arrived from France. When on October 10, Avalov's units tried to resume the offensive, the enemy was already ready for defense. Stubborn battles began. All this happened during the dash of Yudenich's army against Petrograd. As a result, the Estonian troops and the British, who were supposed to operate on the coastal flank, capture the coastal batteries and forts of the Reds, and attack the Red Baltic Fleet, were diverted to Riga.
By October 16, 1919, Avalov's army, which had expended ammunition, had no reserves and had no political will to fight the Entente (German commanders refused to storm the city), stopped the offensive. By November 11, the ZDA units were driven back from Riga and driven back to Courland, to the Prussian border. This was the end of the history of the Western Volunteer Army. Under pressure from the Entente, German units were recalled to Germany in December. Avalov's Russian troops were also evacuated behind them. There they were dispersed in exile. Avalov also fled to Germany, and later collaborated with the German Nazis. His military and political career is over. He died in the USA.
