Baltic State Army

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Monument in the Brothers Cemetery (Riga)

The Baltic State Armed Forces was the name of a Baltic military association from 1918 to 1920 , the majority of which consisted of Baltic German volunteers. In the Latvian War of Independence , the Landeswehr was mainly used against troops of the Bolsheviks and the Red Army . After the Republic of Latvia, which emerged from this turmoil, concluded a peace treaty with Soviet Russia in 1920 , the Baltic State Armed Forces joined the armed forces of Latvia .

Causes and types of conflicts in the Baltic States in 1918 and 1919

The Baltic States had been part of the Russian Empire . After the October Revolution of 1917, a civil war broke out in Russia . When Germany's defeat in World War I became apparent, a revolution seemed imminent there too. At the moment of the paralysis of these two determining powers in the Baltic States, the peoples living there strove for state independence. The governments of the Entente powers promoted the emergence of new states in Eastern Europe as a so-called cordon sanitaire between Germany and Russia. At the same time, however, the "white" Russian armies of the counter-revolution were supported, which did not recognize the independence of the border states. The majority of German-Baltic politicians also preferred belonging to a restored Russia or a Baltic cantonal state to the nation-state solution.

The struggles over the future form of government and territorial affiliation were waged on the territory of Latvia. However, it was also about positions of power and influence of the great powers. In addition, a struggle between monarchist, socialist and democratic forces was reflected that went through all warring parties. The majority of the Latvian population initially hoped that the Bolsheviks would not only gain national independence, but also the disempowerment of the German-Baltic landowners.

The actual battles were fought with relatively small and mostly poorly trained armies. The civilian casualties were far greater than the casualties of the fighting troops. The death toll from the Red Army terrorist measures in Latvia is estimated at between 5,000 and 7,000. According to the statistical office of the city of Riga, 8,590 inhabitants there died of hunger and epidemics in the five months up to June 1919.

The Landeswehr and Freikorps took cruel revenge in the recaptured areas . By courts martial POWs, Partisans and functionaries were Soviet government on mere suspicion partly out shot . Around 1250 people were killed in the cities of Windau , Goldingen and Mitau . After the reconquest of Riga, 2,000 to 4,000 people were shot dead, according to press releases.

Emergence

At the end of November 1918, the Bolsheviks were preparing to invade the Baltic region. Due to internal revolutionary unrest, the German army believed it could not stop it. Therefore, on November 11, 1918 , the German Army High Command approved the Baltic Regency Council to set up a voluntary local protection force for the fight against Bolshevism. The calls for advertising received a great response from the German Baltic and Russian minorities. Latvian volunteers were reluctant to volunteer - the mood tended more towards the Bolsheviks, whose armies were advancing into Baltic territory.

After the proclamation of the republics of Estonia and Latvia by bourgeois governments, the attempt to form a United Baltic Duchy was abandoned. In Estonia, the so-called Baltic regiment was created from German-Baltic volunteers as part of the Estonian army .

In Latvia, however, the Baltic-German organizations avoided official recognition of the new state. The Baltic State Army was militarily under the German occupation forces, but politically the Baltic, Latvian and Russian units were independent and also had different goals. At this point in time, the Landeswehr was, alongside the Iron Brigade (later Iron Division), the only fighting force to protect Latvian territory.

Great Britain, the victorious power of the world war, made the German army responsible for protecting Latvia against the Bolsheviks on December 23 . This led to the fact that the Landeswehr was expanded as planned. The Baltic Germans serving in the German army were transferred to the Landeswehr. In addition, volunteers have now also been recruited in the German Reich. In a contract dated December 29, the Ulmani government granted Latvian citizenship to the volunteers who had spent at least four weeks in the struggle to liberate the country from the Bolsheviks. The Baltic knighthood, i.e. the large German-Baltic landowners, made a third of their land available for settlement by German volunteers.

The first skirmishes of the emerging troops were unsuccessful. She had to withdraw from the Bolshevik Latvian rifle regiments. On January 4th, a Soviet government under Peter Stutschka entered Riga . At the end of January only a small area around Libau was still occupied by German troops. The Ulmani government also fled here.

composition

Outline on May 20, 1919

The decisive political authority was the Baltic National Committee . A military commission had the function of a war ministry . The senior staff of the Landeswehr had the military leadership. Uniforms were German or Russian, depending on nationality, salary and armament were provided by the German Reich until July 1919. Initially, the command language in many Baltic German units was Russian, as the officers came from the Tsarist army . By mid-May the Landeswehr had grown to around 6,100 men. Of these, about 3,600 men were in the Baltic German units, 400 men in the Russian division of Prince Lieven , 1,700 men in the Latvian Balodis brigade and 400 men in subordinate Imperial German free corps and corps troops.

Recapture of Courland

At the beginning of February 1919, Rüdiger von der Goltz took command of the VI. Reserve Corps in Libau. In addition to the now expanded Landeswehr under Major Alfred Fletcher, the Corps was also subordinate to the Iron Division under Major Josef Bischoff and the 1st Guard Reserve Division, which was being transported . The actual mission was to protect East Prussia against the Bolsheviks. However, with the approval of the Entente , an offensive was decided to create a better line of defense. For many members of the Landeswehr, it was about saving family members from the red terror . The offensive was a success and on March 18, 1919 Mitau was captured.

Baltic putsch on April 16, 1919

The further offensive on Riga was delayed for political reasons. The differences between parts of the Ulmanis government and the Baltic National Committee intensified. It was mainly about the political privileges and property of the large German landowners.

According to the younger generation of the Baltic Germans, the National Committee did not defend its own interests with enough determination. Hans Baron Manteuffel-Szoege managed to move his battalion to Libau to refresh. As part of a combat exercise, he had the Latvian government arrested. Ulmanis was able to flee to the English embassy. Unrest and a strike by the civil servants followed in the country. Von der Goltz issued a state of emergency. Manteuffel-Szoege was relieved of his command under pressure from the Entente. The negotiations with Ulmanis about a new government with the participation of the German-Baltic and right-wing Latvian parties failed. Finally, a German-friendly government was set up under the pastor Andrievs Niedra , which in the eyes of the public was little more than a puppet government .

Capture of Riga

The German government forbade proceeding across the line that had been reached and ordered the withdrawal of the most powerful unit, the 1st Guard Reserve Division . Even before this division was loaded, the operation on Riga was carried out at the Corps' own decision. On May 22, the Landeswehr succeeded in a coup d' état on Riga, while Reich German units held the right flank at Bauske against an attempt to encircle them. At the end of the battle, large parts of the Soviet Latvian army had been wiped out, and the government of the Latvian Soviet Republic hurriedly fled to Daugavpils . Around 18,000 political prisoners were released in Riga, where famine was already looming. American ships brought food into the city. Due to the rapid advance, many Red Army soldiers and Soviet officials could no longer leave the city in time and hid among the civilian population. The subsequent assassination of real and alleged Bolsheviks by the Landeswehr met with strong international criticism.

Battle of Cēsis

Niedra pushed for the entire territory of Latvia to be cleared of Soviet troops in order to consolidate his state. In northern Latvia, however, there was a clash with the Estonian republic, which the Niedra government did not recognize and feared a German power building. After long unsuccessful negotiations and mediation attempts by the Entente powers, the battle of Cēsis finally took place on June 22, 1919 , as a result of which the Landeswehr had to retreat to Riga. This battle meant the end of the supremacy of the Baltic Germans. In view of the hopeless situation, at the urging of the Americans in the Allied Control Commission, the armistice agreement was signed by Strasdenhof near Riga on July 3rd . The Niedra government resigned and Ulmanis formed a new government in which two Baltic German ministers were also represented at the beginning.

Campaign in Latgale

Farewell parade for Lieutenant Colonel Alexander on March 22, 1920

According to the provisions of the armistice, the Landeswehr was now subordinate to the Latvian High Command. All Reich Germans had to leave the troops. In addition, the lieutenant colonel and later British Field Marshal Harold Alexander was appointed as the unit's commander. The Latvian brigade under Colonel Balodis and the Russian division Lieven left the association. On August 22, 1919, the regrouped Landeswehr was transferred to the Soviet front in Latgale . The trench warfare lasted until January 1920. After that, a new offensive was started with the allied Polish army under General Rydz-Smigly . The attack led via Rossitten to the border river Zilupe (Russian Sinjaja or Sinjucha ).

On April 1, 1920 the Baltic State Army was transformed into the Latvian 13th  Tuckum Infantry Regiment with German command language. She ceased to exist.

See also

• Estonian War of Freedom # Landeswehr
• Detachment from Randow
• Inter-allied Baltic Commission

literature

• The Baltic State Army in the liberation struggle against Bolshevism . Riga 1929/1939.
• Sigurd Becker: Corps and Freikorps in the Baltic States . Once and Now, Yearbook of the Association for Corps Student History Research, Vol. 8 (1963), pp. 145–150.
• Rüdiger von der Goltz : My broadcast in Finland and the Baltic States . Koehler, Leipzig 1920. ( online )
  • 2nd, completely revised edition under the title Als Politischer General im Osten (Finland and Baltic States) 1918 and 1919 . Koehler, Leipzig 1936.
• Claus Grimm: At the gates of Europe 1918–1920. History of the Baltic State Army . Velmede, Hamburg 1963.
• Hatlie, Mark R .: Riga at War 1914-1919. War and wartime experience in a multi-ethnic metropolis . Herderinstitut publishing house, Marburg 2014.
• Andrievs Niedra : Tautas nodevēja atmiņas. Piedzīvojumi cīņā pret lielimiecismu . Zinātne, Riga 1998, ISBN 5-7966-1144-5 .
• Inta Pētersone (ed.): Latvijas Brīvības cīņas 1918–1920. Enciklopēdja . Preses nams, Riga 1999, ISBN 9984-00-395-7 .
• Bernhard Sauer: The Myth of Eternal Soldierhood. The campaign of the German Freikorps in the Baltic States in 1919. In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 43, 1995, 10, ISSN  0044-2828 , pp. 869-902, ( PDF, 7.4 Mbyte ).
• Igors Vārpa: Latviešu karavīrs zem Krievijas impērijas, Padomju Krievijas and PSRS karogiem. Latviešu strēlnieki triju vēstures laikmetu griežos . Nordik, Riga 2006, ISBN 9984-792-11-0 .
• Bernhard Böttcher: Favors for people and homeland: War memorials of German minorities in East Central Europe during the interwar period . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne Weimar 2009; ISBN 978-3-412-20313-9 .
• Carlos Caballero Jurado, Ramiro Bujeiro: The German Freikorps, 1918-23 ; Osprey, Oxford 2001; ISBN 1-84176-184-2 .

Web links

• Martin Schmidt: Riga: Neverending History - Resurrected memorial for the Baltic State Army (Ostpreußenblatt, June 23, 2001)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bernhard Böttcher: Fallen for People and Home , p. 36
2. ↑ Michael Garleff : The Baltic countries. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania from the Middle Ages to the present . Pustet, Regensburg 2001, ISBN 3-7917-1770-7 , p. 102.