Troubles. 1919 year. In late May - early June 1919, the Northern Corps reached Ropsha, Gatchina and Luga. It took the Whites 10 days to establish their control over an area of 160 thousand square kilometers. However, White did not develop an offensive. There are several reasons for this.
The defeat of the Reds in the Baltics. Loss of Riga
As noted above, by the spring of 1919, the situation in the Baltics for the Red Army had deteriorated significantly. The Reds occupied almost all of Latvia, except for the Libava region. However, anti-Soviet forces held out in Estonia and Lithuania. Red troops in Latvia had to allocate additional units to strengthen the flanks, the front was strongly stretched and weak, especially in the Kurland direction.
In addition, due to problems with personnel, poor material supplies, given the fact that all the attention of the Red Headquarters was focused on the Southern and Eastern fronts, the decomposition of the Reds began in the Baltic States. Fall of discipline, mass desertions. In the immediate rear of the Red Army, peasant uprisings, often led by deserters, became a constant phenomenon. The Red Terror, forced collectivization and surplus appropriation aroused the discontent of wide sections of the population, which used to sympathize with the Bolsheviks. At the same time, the policy of the priority of "national cadres" caused the collapse of the management system. The Germans (the most literate and cultured stratum of the population in the Baltics) were expelled everywhere, replaced by illiterate Latvians. They kicked them out of their homes, staged a terror.
At the same time, the enemy of the Reds, on the contrary, strengthened their ranks. In Estonia, the anti-Soviet front was strengthened at the expense of the Northern Corps of Colonel Dzerozhinsky (from May 1919, the corps was headed by Major General Rodzianko). The Latvian government enlisted the support of Germany. The Second Reich lost the world war, lost all conquests in the East, was destroyed, but Berlin wanted to retain at least minimal influence in the new Baltic states in order to have a buffer for the protection of East Prussia. Shackled by its defeat and the Entente, Germany could no longer directly intervene in the events in the region. However, the Germans relied on local pro-German forces and assisted in the formation of Russian White Guard units in Courland and Latvia, supplying them with weapons, ammunition and equipment. Fortunately, after the end of the war, huge mountains of weapons and military equipment turned out to be unnecessary. Thus, in Latvia, with the help of the Germans, two Russian volunteer detachments were formed - the "Detachment named after Count Keller" under the command of Avalov and the "Brigade of Colonel Vyrgolich". Initially, the detachments were part of the volunteer corps of His Serene Highness Prince Lieven. These units became the core of the pro-German Russian Western Volunteer Army under the command of P. R. Bermondt-Avalov.
Also, with the help of Germany, the Baltic Landswehr was formed. It was created from German volunteers from among the military personnel of Germany, who were promised Latvian citizenship and land, soldiers of the former 8th division (they formed the core of Bischoff's Iron Division), Baltic Germans. Volunteers were also recruited in Germany, where there were many demobilized soldiers and officers who had no business or earnings. They formed the 1st Guards Reserve Division, which arrived in Libau in February 1919. Germany financed, armed and supplied the Baltic Landswehr. The German forces were led by Count Rüdiger von der Goltz, who had previously noted that he commanded the German expeditionary force in Finland, where the Germans helped the White Finns to create their own army and defeat the Red Finns. The immediate commander of the Landswehr was Major Fletcher.
With an iron hand, the Germans were able to form strong units from the previously rather amorphous volunteer units. Among them were the German-Baltic shock battalion of Lieutenant Manteuffel, the detachment of Count Eilenburg, the Latvian detachment of Colonel Ballaud, the Russian company of Captain Dyderov, the cavalrymen of Hahn, Drachenfels and Engelgard. They were supported by the Russian Libavsky volunteer rifle detachment of Lieven. Landswehr recaptured Vindava from the Reds in early March 1919. After that, a general offensive by anti-Bolshevik forces began. In April, the Landswehr drove the Reds out of the western part of Latvia, captured the capital of Courland, Mitava (Jelgava).
After that, there was a two-month pause, the front stabilized for a while. A positional struggle began. Von der Goltz fought according to the rules, and did not dare to attack Riga on the move, where there was a large red garrison that almost doubled the advancing ones (7-8 thousand German, Latvian and white Russians against about 15 thousand Reds). The Germans fought according to the charter, so they pulled up the rear and reinforcements, cleared the occupied territories from the Reds still remaining there (there was no continuous front during the offensive, they advanced in the main directions, there were extensive gaps, territories that were not "cleared"), brought artillery, ammunition, established supply lines. Also, the command feared that until the sea was opened from the ice, it would be impossible to arrange the supply of food to Riga. Contradictions began between Germany and England, which tried to take the place of the Germans in the Baltic States. In addition, an internal conflict began in Latvia. The Baltic Landeswehr tried to establish a pro-German regime - the government of Niedra, which would represent the interests of primarily the Eastsee Germans. Ulmanis's government was overthrown, but England and France stood up for it. As a result, the Germans were forced to cede the Entente, and in the summer - fall of 1919, German units and volunteers were evacuated to Germany.
On May 18, 1919, the Reds tried to launch a counteroffensive in the Riga area. Heavy fighting continued for three days, the Red units suffered heavy losses. On May 21, there was a lull, the Reds regrouped, pulled up reserves in order to continue the offensive. The commander of the Landswehr, Major Fletcher, decided to get ahead of the enemy and attacked himself. The attack came as a surprise to the enemy and the Landswehr broke through the Reds' defense. With a forced march, the Landswehr rushed to Riga and caught the red garrison by surprise. Manteuffel's strike force and Bishov's Iron Division stormed into the city.
As a result, on May 22, 1919, Riga was captured by the Landswehr and the Whites. Red Latvian riflemen retreated and took up defenses on the Sebezh-Drissa front. Together with the Russian units attached to them, they formed the 15th Army, which remained as part of the Western Front. In the seaside direction, the troops of the 7th Red Army retreated to their original position on the line of the river. Narova and Lake Peipsi. After that, there was a lull in the fighting. The enemy managed to capture only Narva and a small strip of terrain along the right bank of the river. Narov.
Western Volunteer Army officers and German volunteers. In the center - P. M. Bermondt-Avalov
Features of the position of whites in the region
The northern corps, due to its small number (about 3 thousand people), could only play an auxiliary role. At the same time, the whites understood that it was necessary to form a new front to help Kolchak's army. Whites in the north-west of the country could distract the Red Army with their attack, pull the Reds away from the Kolchak front. The Finnish-Estonian front was to become such a front with the task of attacking Petrograd. On this front, Yudenich (during the world war he was the commander of the Caucasian Front), who was in Finland and was considered the head of the White movement in the North-West of Russia (although not all whites recognized him), had about 5 thousand people, and the Northern corps in Estonia. At the same time, in Finland, the formation of white units was slowed down due to political and material difficulties. The Finns demanded that the whites officially recognize the independence of Finland, as well as the annexation of Eastern Karelia and part of the Kola Peninsula to Finland. And the Entente was in no hurry to support the whites in the North-West of Russia, preferring here to rely on the new governments of Finland and the Baltic republics.
Kolchak approved Yudenich as the commander of the new front. At the same time, his small forces were scattered across the Baltic. White refugee organizations in Finland, where local authorities did not allow the formation of units from Russian volunteers, and prevented officers who wanted to get into the Northern Corps from sailing legally from Finland to Estonia; Rodzianko's corps in Estonia is under operational subordination to the Estonian commander-in-chief Laidoner, the Estonians accepted the help of the whites, but treated them with suspicion, suddenly they would oppose their independence; a detachment of Prince Lieven in Latvia and the pro-German Western Volunteer Army of Avalov, which did not want to subjugate Yudenich and planned to take power in the Baltics by itself, suppressing local nationalists.
At the same time, the position of scattered white units and organizations in the Baltic was complicated by the fact that several "independent" states had just emerged here - Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, in which Russophobia and chauvinism flourished. Also, Germany, France, England and the USA tried to influence the situation in the Baltic States. So, in Revel (Tallinn) sat the head of all allied missions in the Baltic States, the English General Gough, who wanted to act as the sole master of the entire region. Moreover, the interests of the Russian whites, Yudenich, were in last place. The British reshaped the map of the region for themselves and were not going to help the Russians to recreate a "single and indivisible" Russia. And Yudenich was forced to recognize the supreme role of the Entente in the region. At the same time, the British tried to destroy the remaining forces of the Baltic Fleet, according to the old tradition, trying to ensure for themselves complete domination of the Baltic Sea for the future. In May, the British attacked Kronstadt with torpedo boats. The operation failed altogether. At the same time, the sailors of the Baltic Fleet became embittered, pulled themselves up and no longer tried to go over to the side of the whites.
Until the moment the Red Army gained the upper hand, all the numerous contradictions were smoothed out by the need to confront a strong common enemy. As soon as the Reds were pushed aside, all the contradictions and controversial issues immediately surfaced. The White Guards unexpectedly found themselves in a "foreign land" and in the position of "poor relatives", petitioners.
Commander of the Northern Corps in May - July 1919 Alexander Rodzianko
Bulak-Balakhovich (far left) in Pskov with the commander of the Estonian army Johan Laidoner. May 31, 1919
Equestrian detachment of Bulak-Balakhovich
Preparation of the Northern Corps offensive
In January - April 1919, white units raided the territory of Soviet Russia from Estonia. They were successful. This prompted part of the corps command to develop a plan for a major offensive operation. In addition, their position in Estonia prompted the Whites to attack. It was necessary to prove to the Estonian authorities the expediency of the existence of the White Guard units at the expense of Estonia and their combat effectiveness. The Estonian press constantly suspected whites of striving to eliminate Estonian independence and demanded their disarmament. The Northern Corps needed to seize a bridgehead on Russian territory in order to be able to increase its forces and get out of the dependent position.
The direct development of the operation plan was carried out by the commander of the 2nd brigade of the corps, General Rodzianko, Colonel Vetrenko, the commander of one of the detachments, and Lieutenant Vidyakin, the chief of staff of the 2nd brigade. In April, the plan for the corps summer offensive was approved by the Estonian commander-in-chief Laidoner. At first, the offensive had no decisive task of capturing Petrograd. The Whites planned to take Gdov, cross the Plyussa and Luga rivers, seize Yamburg from the rear, cut the Petrogradskoe highway and the Yamburg-Gatchina railway, encircling the enemy's Yamburg group.
Thus, the whites had to capture a sufficient foothold in the Russian lands in order to get out of dependence on Estonia and expand the ranks of the white formations. At the same time, the Pskov direction of continuing the operation was considered more promising than the Petrograd one, since the population of the Pskov and Novgorod provinces, apparently, could have more sympathy for the White Guards than the St. Petersburg proletariat. However, the Estonians themselves were going to advance in the Pskov direction and transferred the 2nd brigade of the Northern Corps from the Yurva direction to Narva, where the 1st brigade was already stationed. Therefore, almost all the forces of the Northern Corps (with the exception of one battalion of the Talab regiment, which remained in the place of its former location) were concentrated south of Narva by the beginning of the offensive. A total of about 3 thousand bayonets and sabers with 6 guns and 30 machine guns.
The 1st Estonian Division of General Tenisson, which was located on the coast of the Gulf of Finland north of Narva, also took part in the offensive. The Estonians did not plan to go deeper into Russia, they followed the whites, providing the rear and flank in the coastal zone. They were going to create a defensive line on the river. Meadows. The 2nd Estonian division of Colonel Puskar was located in the Pskov direction (about 4 thousand soldiers).
General situation of the Reds
At the same time, the situation was quite favorable for the offensive of the White Estonian troops. The 7th Red Army had three divisions with a total strength of about 23 thousand people. The general condition of the Red 7th Army was unsatisfactory due to supply disruptions and hunger, setbacks at the front, and insufficient attention from the central command and the party. Discipline in the troops fell, there were many deserters. The 7th Army's front was 600 kilometers long. The Soviet command believed that the main attack on Petrograd would follow from the Finnish territory. In April, the White Finns launched a strong offensive in Eastern Karelia in the Olonets direction. Heavy fighting was going on in the Petrozavodsk area, the attention of the Reds was diverted to Finland ("How Great Finland planned to seize Petrograd"). In the north, there were two combat areas of the 7th Army: between the Onega and Ladoga lakes - the Mezhdolozerny area; on the isthmus between Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland - the Karelian section. The Narva sector was covered by the forces of only one 6th rifle division and the 2nd and part of the 3rd brigades of the 19th rifle division. For the total length of the front of about 100 kilometers, the Reds had a force of about 2,700 fighters, with 18 guns.
Thus, the front section on the Narva-Yamburg line turned out to be the most vulnerable. Here the Northern Corps had a three-fold superiority of forces over the Red Army. However, when the operation was delayed, the material and human resources of the Red Army were, of course, much greater than that of the whites. For example, the number of eaters (active units, mobilized and undergoing training, rear, set aside for the restoration and replenishment of the unit, etc.) in the Petrograd Military District in June 1919 was 192 thousand people. And taking into account the developed railway communications Moscow - Petrograd, the Soviet command could quickly strengthen the garrison of Petrograd.
In the entire northwestern region (especially in the Pskov province), peasant uprisings blazed in the immediate rear of the Red Army. In Petrograd itself, the situation was also unfavorable for the Reds. There was famine in the city, people fled en masse to the village to feed themselves and not freeze in winter. The population of the old capital has decreased by 3 times, compared with the pre-revolutionary (up to 722 thousand people). This led to the growth of sympathizers for the White movement and the Socialist-Revolutionaries, including among the military. In addition, by the beginning of the offensive of the Northern Corps, the workers of Petrograd had been drained of blood by the mass mobilization of workers and Bolsheviks to the Southern and Eastern Fronts, and by the mass dispatch in the winter of 1918-1919. starving St. Petersburg workers "for feed" to Little Russia and the Don.
However, the resources were still there, so from the end of May to the middle of June, the mobilization of workers and communists gave the Petrograd military district about 15 thousand new fighters. On May 2, the city was declared under martial law in connection with the hostilities with the White Finns in Karelia. The "District of Internal Defense of Petrograd" was created (in the summer the Petrograd fortified region was formed), workers 'regiments and workers' brigades were formed to build fortifications.
On May 19, a representative of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic of Stalin arrived in Petrograd. It was revealed that a counter-revolutionary conspiracy was prepared in the city, which was led by the anti-Bolshevik National Center and foreign embassies. On June 14, after the beginning of the uprising at the Krasnaya Gorka fort, when some of the conspirators fell into the hands of the Chekists, it became obvious that there was no longer any time to hesitate. A "cleansing" operation began in Petrograd. In particular, searches of foreign embassies were carried out. They contained documents proving the involvement of foreign diplomats in the conspiracy, as well as a large number of weapons and ammunition. Thousands of rifles, hundreds of revolvers, ammunition and even machine guns were seized during a search of city blocks. These measures strengthened the rear of the Red Army.
A group of soldiers of a detachment of Finnish railway workers-communists who defended Petrograd during the first campaign of Yudenich
A detachment of red sailors in Petrograd
An armored detachment in Petrograd. Spring 1919
Glorious May
On May 13, 1919, Rodzianko's detachments broke through the Red defenses near Narva and entered the Petrograd province. The White Guards began to bypass Yamburg. One brigade of the Reds was defeated and retreated. On May 15, the whites entered Gdov, on the 17th, into Yamburg. On May 25, Balakhovich's detachment broke into Pskov, followed by Puskar's Estonian division.
Thus, the red front crackled. Red units retreated to Luga or surrendered. In late May - early June 1919, the Northern Corps reached the approaches to Ropsha, Gatchina, Krasnoe Selo and Luga. It took the Whites 10 days to establish their control over an area of 160 thousand square kilometers.
However, White did not develop an offensive. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, the Northern Corps were too small to storm such a huge city as Petrograd. And the Estonians were not going to participate in such an operation. At the same time, the white command did not have supplies to supply the city. Their reserves were practically depleted. The Estonian government, as soon as the whites entered the territory of Russia, removed them from the supply.
The White Corps was already exhausted in the first battles. The Whites received a bridgehead, their considerable territory with the cities of Pskov, Gdov and Yamburg. However, the white command was unable to form a significant army here. These were not the rich lands of the Don, the Kuban or Little Russia, the poor Pskov villages, which had already been swept by the war twice. That is, there has been no significant change for the better in terms of human and material resources. Estonia cut off the supply, and the British so far only made promises. We also failed to capture rich trophies. In the Pskov region, there were no such rich warehouses of the old army, as, for example, in Little Russia and the North Caucasus.
Secondly, the corps commanders were confident that time was playing on them. And there were reasons for this. On June 13, 1919, anti-Bolshevik forces captured the Krasnaya Gorka fort and the Gray Horse battery. And this was the core of the Kronstadt defense system of Petrograd from the Baltic Sea. However, the British did not take advantage of this favorable moment and did not support the rebels. Soon ships from Kronstadt forced the rebels to abandon the forts with powerful shelling.
Thirdly, the whites hoped for more substantial support from the British fleet and the offensive of the Finnish army on Petrograd. But it was not possible to come to an agreement with the Finnish government. And in the elections that took place soon in Finland, Mannerheim's rival Ståhlberg won, he became the first president of the Finnish state. As a result, the war party led by Mannerheim lost.
Meanwhile, the Soviet command, the party and military leadership took emergency measures to restore order. A commission headed by Stalin and the chairman of the Cheka Peters rushed from Moscow, order was quickly restored to the city. The Chekists suppressed the enemy underground, which was preparing an uprising. In Petrograd, additional party, Soviet and workers' mobilizations were carried out, new units were formed. Reinforcements were brought in from Central Russia. The forces of the 7th Army were regrouped, reserves were created, material resources were accumulated. Improved intelligence work. The Red Army and sailors suppressed the uprising of the "Krasnaya Gorka" and "Gray Horse". By the end of June 1919, the Red Army was ready for a counteroffensive. In August 1919, the Reds recaptured Yamburg and Pskov.
Cross "May 13, 1919". Established on July 10, 1919 to award participants in the Northern Corps Offensive of General Rodzianko. Source:
