Brandenstein Detachment

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The Detachement Brandenstein (also known as Landungsabteilung Brandenstein ) was a military unit that was set up by the Commander-in-Chief East as part of the German intervention in Finland in spring 1918 . The association was under the orders of Colonel Otto von Brandenstein .

Finland expedition 1918

Landing operation, fleet in front of Hangö.
Officer corps of the "Jäger Battalion No. 27" in Libau.

Finland declared its independence on December 6, 1917, amid a period of war and political turmoil in Europe.

The revolutionary mood in Europe, triggered by the Russian revolutionary movement , finally spread to Finland , whereupon violent unrest broke out on January 27, 1918. On the following day, the Executive Committee of the Social Democrats announced the formation of a revolutionary government - the Soumen Kansanvaltuuskunta - under Kullervo Manner . The military arm of the People's Commissariat , known as the Red Guard , quickly achieved military successes, also because the Red Guard was supported by Russian revolutionary forces . However, white protection corps and parts of the population of Finland defended themselves under the leadership of the former Russian General von Mannerheim , but they did not have the necessary military forces to take decisive action against the insurgents , especially since the regular Finnish military had been disbanded in 1901 and the construction the new military needed more time. At the beginning of April 1918 Mannerheim's armed forces comprised 11,000 men, in contrast to the 50–60,000 men of the Red Western and Eastern Army. The German arms deliveries made since the end of 1917 - as the sole aid measure - should therefore not be sufficient. Therefore, on February 14th, the Finnish representative Hjelt in Berlin asked for military aid from the German Empire . However, Erich Ludendorff was responsible for submitting the request for help . On February 21, the Finnish ambassador at the headquarters in Kreuznach was informed that the German relief corps would be sent.

The Finnish hunters of the Royal Prussian Jäger Battalion No. 27, which was formally dissolved on February 13, 1918, were dispatched under the command of Captain Eduard Ausfeld at the request of the Finnish government. On February 25, 1918, most of the reached approximately. 2000 strong battalion the city of Vaasa . The former members of the Royal Prussian Jäger Battalion No. 27 fought on the side of the White Army and later formed the tribe of the Finnish military.

On February 22, 1918, the staff of the Baltic Sea Division was formed from the staff of the 12th Landwehr Division . This was followed by the establishment of the Baltic Sea Division in Danzig and the Brandenstein Landing Department in Reval , for which only associations of the Eastern Front were used. The first units were ready for use at the beginning of March.

The Jäger Battalion No. 14 occupied the Aland Islands as part of the Baltic Sea Division on March 5 , in order to set up a stage base here. Sweden had also sent occupation troops to the Aland Islands a short time beforehand, but conflict situations were avoided through negotiation. The occupation of the islands was soon abandoned by the Baltic Division, however, as there was no longer any strategic necessity. The Jäger Battalion No. 14 was then transported to Ekenäs by sea .

The majority of the division was finally able to land in the ice-free port of Hangö on April 3 . The coastal battery on Russarö and its Russian crew had previously declared themselves neutral, but only after the brief attack by the liner SMS Westfalen . The 23.4 cm guns of the coastal battery and the signal station of the island were subsequently occupied by German troops. This enabled the 19 German troop transports to land safely.

Mission history

Finland expedition 1918.
Advance of
the Brandenstein Landing Department

After embarking the approximately 3,000-strong Brandenstein Detachment in Reval , they crossed and landed on April 7, 1918 at Loviisa . Which was made more difficult by adverse weather conditions and difficult ice conditions.

The Brandenstein Detachment initially operated independently, then in cooperation with the Baltic Sea Division under the command of Major General Graf von der Goltz . The main task of the detachment was to interrupt the traffic routes to and from St. Petersburg , as the military units of the "Red Guard" were supplied with weapons in this way. The interruption of the telephone connections was also part of the order.

Without a direct connection to the Baltic Division, the detachment succeeded in advancing up to 60 kilometers inland, whereby the right flank - from the Kymi section - was exposed to a constant threat. During the advance over Lapinjärvi and Artjärvi there were isolated battles. On April 13, the Wiborg –Lahti railway was finally interrupted. Uusikylä train station east of Lahti was also captured. However, Uusikylä had to be surrendered on April 15 after two days of heavy fighting.

The urgently needed radio contact with the Baltic Sea Division was not made until April 17th.

On April 18, the detachment was able to occupy Lahti . However, the place had to be defended against continuous attacks by the Red Guard in the following two weeks. On April 20, near Heinola - north of Lahti - Colonel von Brandenstein was able to establish contact with the Finnish Kalm Volunteer Battalion , which also established a direct connection to the Mannerheim headquarters in Mikkeli .

Then reinforcements were added to the detachment, including the Hamilton Reconnaissance Division with their auto cannon train and the Finnish Thesleff Volunteer Battalion .

The ongoing attacks by the Red Guard, west of Lahti, could only be repulsed with an energetic defense. Despite this fact, Colonel von Brandenstein started the attack on April 29 in two columns - with parts to the north around Lake Päijärvi. The goal of the action was the right flank of the attacking Red Guard at Lahti. While the units of the Baltic Sea Division were supposed to push the enemy into the pocket by simultaneous offensive action from the northeast, east and south. Joint action under the leadership of Major General Graf von der Goltz ultimately led to success. In the period from April 30 to May 2, the Baltic Sea Division and the Brandenstein Detachment succeeded in encircling the Western Army of the Red Guard and forcing them to surrender.

The German troop unit suffered numerous losses during the almost four weeks of fighting.

On April 28th, Mannerheim won a decisive victory near Wiborg, which ended the military conflict in Finland. In the aftermath of the military conflict there were numerous acts of revenge against the defeated and allegedly Bolshevik sympathizers.

Whereabouts

The Brandenstein Detachment remained as an occupying force in Finland until the end of May and was then transported back to Reval. Colonel Otto Freiherr von Brandenstein was promoted to major general on October 18, 1918 . At the end of February 1919 he retired from active service.

The remaining units of the Baltic Sea Division continued to serve as an occupation force and initially stayed in the country at the request of the Finnish government. Later, the German troops also took part in the formation and training of the Finnish military units. At the end of August, the division's three hunter battalions were relocated to Germany.

On September 13, 1918, the staff of the Baltic Sea Division received the designation of German General in Finland and was directly under the Supreme Army Command .

The commander and the rest of the troops left Finland on December 16, 1918. The units were brought to Stettin by sea.

Structure and staffing

Finland, on the advance from Hangö to Helsinki.
German armored train near Lahti, end of April 1918, the built-in guns came from the "Hamilton Reconnaissance Division" or their auto-cannon train.
Railway protection in Finland in 1918.
Advance fighting in April 1918.

Brandenstein Detachment

(As of April 7, 1918)

  • Staff 3rd Guard Cavalry Brigade (Colonel Otto Freiherr von Brandenstein)
    • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 255 (Lieutenant Colonel von Luck)
      • 1st Battalion ( Captain d. L. Reuter, killed on May 1, 1918 near Lahti)
        • 1st Company ( Lieutenant d. R. Bleckmann)
        • 2nd Company (Lieutenant d. R. Fischmann)
        • 3rd Company (Lieutenant d. R. Volkening)
        • 4th Company (Lieutenant d. R. Idel)
        • 1st machine gun company (Lieutenant d. R. Grotkus)
      • 2nd Battalion (Captain d. R. Carnuth)
        • 5th Company (Lieutenant d. R. Nickel)
        • 6th Company (Lieutenant d. R. Undaunted)
        • 7th Company (Lieutenant d. R. Sövern)
        • 8th Company (Lieutenant d. R. Bruno Müller)
        • 2nd machine gun company (Leutnant d. L. Schimmel)
      • III. Battalion ( Rittmeister Dulier)
        • 9th Company (Lieutenant d. R. Feldmann)
        • 10th Company (First Lieutenant Michelmann)
        • 11th Company (Lieutenant on the R. Platte)
        • 12th Company (Lieutenant d. R. Nübel)
        • 3rd Machine Gun Company (Lieutenant d. R. Wildschütz)
    • Cyclist Battalion No. 5 (Captain von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff)
      • 54th Cyclist Company (Lieutenant Misgeld)
    • Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Jäger Battalion No. 14
      • 1st Cyclist Company (Captain Schrader, took command of the 1st Battalion of the "Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 255" on May 1st)
    • 2nd Silesian Jäger Battalion No. 6
      • 1st Cyclist Company (Lieutenant d. R. Harbeck)
      • 2nd cyclist company
    • 2. Leib-Hussar Regiment "Queen Victoria of Prussia" No. 2
      • (half) 4th Squadron (First Lieutenant von Althen)
    • 8th Field Artillery Regiment
      • 6th battery (Hauptmann d. R. Koehler)
      • 7th battery (Hauptmann d. R. Rönnefahrt)
    • 331st (half) medical company
    • 78th (half) reserve company
    • (half) telephone train
    • light radio station

Mine thrower officers

The "Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 255" was equipped with light mortars, but no mortar companies were formed. The mine throwers and their operations were incorporated into the infantry companies and commanded by the mine throwing officers of the battalions. Each battalion was equipped with four mortars.

  • I. Battalion
    • Mine thrower officer: Lieutenant d. R. Wilhelm Elskamp (killed on April 29, 1918 near Lahti)
  • II Battalion
  • III. battalion
    • Mine thrower officer: Sergeant Lieutenant d. L. Goebel

Others

Battalion Thesleff

The Thesleff Battalion was a Finnish volunteer association that was formed after the German intervention troops landed in Hangö. It was named after the Finnish, formerly Russian Lieutenant General Wilhelm Alexander Thesleff .

The 400 Finnish volunteers had been transferred from Reval to Gdansk, where they joined the landing association of the Baltic Sea Division. The battalion was temporarily assigned to the Brandenstein Detachment and was subsequently involved in the action against the Red Western Army from April 30 to May 2.

"Von Brandenstein" Brigade

At the end of 1918 Major General v. Brandenstein took command of the "Brigade z. b. V. 6 "( VI. Army Corps ), which was then also referred to as the" von Brandenstein "brigade.

structure

  • Brigade zbV 6
    • Replacement Infantry Regiment z. b. V. 3
    • Replacement Infantry Regiment z. b. V. 4
    • Replacement cavalry platoon 6
    • Replacement battery 6
    • Volunteer Infantry Regiment No. 395

Uusikylä monument

At the station of Uusikylä one remembers Stele of the fighting from 13 to 15 April, 1918, inscribed the names of the twelve victims of the Reserve Infantry Regiment. 255 and the fifth cyclist battalion.

Literature and Sources

literature

  • Rüdiger vd Goltz: My show in Finland and the Baltic States. Publishing house KF Köhler, Leipzig 1920.
  • World War I 1914-1918: Military Operations on the Land , Volume XIII. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1942, pp. 371–373.
  • Erich Otto Volkmann : The Great War 1914–1918. Verlag Ernst Steiniger, Berlin 1938, p. 242 f.
  • Manfred Menger: The Finland Policy of German Imperialism: 1917–1918 . Volume 38, writings of the Central Institute for the History of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1974.
  • Winfried Baumgart : The German Ostpolitik 1918: From Brest-Litowsk to the end of the First World War. R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1966.
  • Max Fleischmann: The Aland Question: A Memorandum . (New edition) Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2013. ISBN 978-3-662429-90-7 .
  • Pentti Virrankoski: Suomen historia 2 . Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura (SKS), Helsinki 2001, ISBN 951-746-342-1 .
  • Anthony F. Upton: The Finnish Revolution: 1917-1918 . Volume 3 of The Nordic series, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 1980, ISBN 978-1-452912-39-4 .
  • Hermann Cron: History of the German Army in the World War 1914–1918 . Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-0414-9 .
  • Martin Lezius : Hall of Fame of our Old Army , (Ed.) Reichsarchiv Potsdam u. Bavarian War Archives, Military Publishing House, Leipzig 1927, p. 77 u. 180.

Printed sources

  • Eric Solsten a. Sandra W. Meditz: Finland, A Country Study . Federal Research Division Library of Congress, Washington 1990. pp. 26-39.

Unprinted sources

  • Federal Archives
    • Inventory: (PH 8-VI / 40), war diary of the staff of the 3rd Guard Cavalry Brigade, running time: 1918.
    • Holdings: (PH 8-VI / 53), records of those who fell and seriously wounded in Finland, running time: 1918.
    • Inventory: (PH 8-VI / 83), war diary of the Reserve Infantry Regiment 255, running time: March 5–31. May 1918.

Web links

Commons : Detachement Brandenstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ At the time of the intervention in the rank of colonel . The promotion to the rank of general took place in October 1918.
  2. ↑ Eric Solsten a. Sandra W. Meditz: Finland, A Country Study . Federal Research Division Library of Congress, Washington 1990. p. 29.
  3. ^ Henning Söderhjelm: The red revolt in Finland in 1918. A description based on official documents. Verlag Quelle & Mayer, Leipzig 1918, p. 102 f.
  4. ^ Henning Söderhjelm: The red revolt in Finland in 1918. A description based on official documents. Verlag Quelle & Mayer, Leipzig 1918, p. 11 f.
  5. ↑ a b c d The World War 1914 to 1918: The Military Operations on Land, Volume XIII. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1942, p. 371 ff.
  6. ^ Erich Ludendorff: My war memories 1914-1918. Volume I., ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1919, p. 503.
  7. ↑ Winfried Baumgart: Die deutsche Ostpolitik 1918: From Brest-Litowsk to the end of the First World War . R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1966, p. 93.
  8. ^ Anthony F. Upton: The Finnish Revolution: 1917-1918 . Volume 3 of The Nordic series, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 1980, pp. 334-341.
  9. ↑ The World War 1914 to 1918: The Military Operations on Land , Volume XIII. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1942, p. 371.
  10. ↑ a b c Winfried Baumgart: The German Ostpolitik 1918: From Brest-Litowsk to the end of the First World War . R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1966, p. 98.
  11. ↑ Agilolf Keßelring: The Emperor's "Finnish Legion". The Finnish hunter movement in the First World War in the context of the German policy towards Finland . Berlin 2005, p. 114.
  12. ^ February 23, 1915 "Training Command" Lockstedt camp , August 26, 1915 "Lockstedt Training Troop", May 30, 1916 final designation "Jäger Battalion No. 27".
  13. ↑ Jaakko Sjjomalainen: Jägarbataljonen 27 en Historik i Ord och Bild . Volume II, Söderström & Co Verlags AG, Helsingfors 1920, p. 1097 ff.
  14. ↑ Jaakko Sjjomalainen: Jägarbataljonen 27 en Historik i Ord och Bild . Volume II, Söderström & Co Verlags AG, Helsingfors 1920, pp. 1237-1245.
  15. ^ Military weekly paper of October 17, 1941 , p. 433.
  16. ^ Pentti Virrankoski: Suomen historia 2 . SKS, Helsinki 2001, pp. 732-735.
  17. ↑ LBW inventory: (456 F 19), 12th Landwehr Division (later Baltic Sea Division and German General in Finland), duration 1914-1919.
  18. ^ The battles and skirmishes of the Great War 1914-1918 , compiled by the Great General Staff, Verlag von Hermann Zack, Berlin 1919, p. 551.
  19. ^ "Ostsee-Division" approx. 12,000 men strong, "Detachement Brandenstein" approx. 3,000 men strong.
  20. ↑ Winfried Baumgart: Die deutsche Ostpolitik 1918: From Brest-Litowsk to the end of the First World War . R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1966, p. 93.
  21. ↑ Rüdiger von der Goltz: My mission in Finland and the Baltics. Publishing house by KF Köhler, Leipzig 1920, p. 65.
  22. ^ Pentti Virrankoski: Suomen historia 2 . SKS, Helsinki 2001, p. 738 f.
  23. ↑ Agilolf Keßelring: The Emperor's "Finnish Legion". The Finnish hunter movement in the First World War in the context of the German policy towards Finland . Berlin 2005, p. 116.
  24. ↑ The light radio stations had a range of 40 to 80 km, depending on the devices used (receivers) (cf. aspects for reconnaissance work . (Ed.) General Inspection of the Cavalry, Berlin 1914, p. 49.)
  25. ↑ a b Rüdiger vd Goltz: My broadcast in Finland and the Baltic States. Publishing house by KF Köhler, Leipzig 1920, p. 66.
  26. ↑ Hans Butz: The KB Mountain Artillery Department No. 2. Self-published by the Bavarian War Archives, Munich 1921, p. 74.
  27. ↑ Rüdiger von der Goltz: My mission in Finland and the Baltics. Publishing house by KF Köhler, Leipzig 1920, p. 69.
  28. ^ Pentti Virrankoski: Suomen historia 2 . SKS, Helsinki 2001, p. 740.
  29. ↑ Rüdiger von der Goltz: My mission in Finland and the Baltics. Publishing house by KF Köhler, Leipzig 1920, p. 71.
  30. ↑ Rüdiger von der Goltz: My mission in Finland and the Baltics. Publishing house by KF Köhler, Leipzig 1920, p. 77.
  31. ^ Erich Ludendorff: My war memories 1914-1918 . Volume I., ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1919, p. 505.
  32. ^ The battles and skirmishes of the Great War 1914–1918 , compiled by the Great General Staff, Verlag von Hermann Zack, Berlin 1919, p. 537.
  33. ↑ Hans Butz: The KB Mountain Artillery Department No. 2. Self-published by the Bavarian War Archives, Munich 1921, p. 76.
  34. ↑ Kai Donner, Th. Svedlin, Heikki Nurmio: Suomen vapaussota. Volume VII, KJ Gummerus, Jyväskylä 1921, Appendix X u. XI.
  35. ↑ Kai Donner, Th. Svedlin, Heikki Nurmio: Suomen vapaussota. Volume VII, KJ Gummerus, Jyväskylä 1921, Appendix 4.
  36. ↑ Rüdiger von der Goltz: My mission in Finland and the Baltics. Verlag KF Köhler, Leipzig 1920, p. 53.