Latvian War of Independence

Latvian War of Independence
Part of Soviet westward offensive of 1918–19
Date 5 December 1918 – 11 August 1920 (1 year, 8 months and 6 days) Location Latvia Result Latvian victory Territorial changes Independence of Latvia
Belligerents
Latvian Army merged from the: Latvian Independent Brigade[nb 1] North Latvian Brigade[nb 2] in July 1919  Estonia Lieven detachment[nb 3]  Poland  Lithuania Supported by the Allied Powers	VI Reserve Corps:[1] Baltische Landeswehr Freikorps merged into the West Russian Volunteer Army in September 1919	Russian SFSR  Latvian SSR
Commanders and leaders
Jānis Balodis Ernst Põdder Edward Rydz-Śmigły	Rüdiger von der Goltz Alfred Fletcher Pavel Bermondt-Avalov	Jukums Vācietis Dmitry Nadyozhny Pēteris Slavens
Strength
At height (January 1920) 69,232 personnel 271 machine guns and 321 light machine guns 54 artillery 33 mortars[2] At height (June 1919) 16,000 personnel[3] 204 machine guns 39 artillery 3 armoured vehicles 5 armoured trains[4] 1 cruiser, 8 destroyers, 2 torpedo boats, 1 minesweeper 2 torpedo boats, 2 gunboats (January 1920) 25 tanks, 20 000 Infantry	At height (June 1919) 20,000 personnel,[3] 100 artillery, 3 armored trains, 10 armored vehicles, 18 airplanes, 469 machine guns[4]	5,600–6,300 personnel,[5] 55 machine-guns, 42 artillery, 3 armoured trains[6]
Casualties and losses
Latvia: 3,046 dead 4,085 wounded[7] Estonia: 300 dead, 800 wounded[8]	840 killed 3,000 wounded[9][10]	Unknown
↑ Part of the Baltische Landeswehr until July 1919. ↑ Under the Estonian 3rd Division command until July 1919. ↑ Part of the Baltische Landeswehr until July 1919, after which it left Latvia.

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The Latvian War of Independence (Latvian: Latvijas brīvības cīņas, literally, "Latvia's freedom struggles"), sometimes called the Latvian War of Liberation (Latvian: Latvijas atbrīvošanas karš, "War of Latvian Liberation"), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invaded by Soviet Russia, and the signing of the Latvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty on 11 August 1920.^[11]

The war can be divided into a few stages: Soviet offensive, German-Latvian liberation of Kurzeme and Riga, Estonian-Latvian liberation of Vidzeme, Bermontian offensive, Latvian-Polish liberation of Latgale.

The war involved Latvia (its provisional government supported by Estonia, Poland and the Western Allies—particularly the navy of United Kingdom) against the Russian SFSR and the Bolsheviks' short-lived Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic. Germany and the Baltic nobility added another level of intrigue, initially being nominally allied to the Nationalist/Allied force but attempting to jockey for German domination of Latvia. Eventually tensions flared up after a German coup against the Latvian government, leading to open war.

Following a cease-fire, a ploy was developed by the Germans, nominally dissolving into the West Russian Volunteer Army led by Gen. Pavel Bermont-Avalov. This West Russian Volunteer Army included Germans and former Russian prisoners of war nominally allied with the White Army in the Russian Civil War, but both Bermondt-Avalov and von der Goltz were more interested in eliminating the nationalists than fighting the Bolsheviks.

Certain episodes of the Latvian Independence War were also part of the Polish-Soviet War, particularly the Battle of Daugavpils.

Soviet offensive

On November 18, 1918 the People's Council of Latvia proclaimed the Independence of the Republic of Latvia and created the Latvian Provisional Government headed by Kārlis Ulmanis. On December 1, 1918 the newly proclaimed republic was invaded by Soviet Russia. Much of the invading army in Latvia consisted of Red Latvian Riflemen, which made the invasion easier. The Soviet offensive met little resistance. In the north Alūksne was taken on December 7, Valka on December 18, and Cēsis on December 23, in the south Daugavpils was taken on December 9 and Pļaviņas on December 17. Riga was captured by the Red Army on January 3, 1919. By the end of January the Latvian Provisional Government and remaining German units had retreated all the way to Liepāja, but then the Red offensive stalled along the Venta river. The Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic was officially proclaimed on January 13 with the political, economic, and military backing of the Soviet Russia.

Liberation of Kurzeme and the coup d'etat

On February 18 an agreement was signed between Latvia and Estonia, starting formation of the North Latvian Brigade led by Jorģis Zemitāns on Estonian territory. On March 3, 1919 the German and Latvian forces commenced a counterattack against the Red Latvian Riflemen. Tukums was recaptured from the Bolsheviks on March 15, and Jelgava on March 18. On April 16 the Baltic nobility organized a coup d'etat in Liepāja and a puppet government headed by Andrievs Niedra was established. The provisional national government took refuge aboard the steamship Saratov under British protection in Liepaja harbour.^[12] On 22 May 1919 Riga was recaptured by the Freikorps and terror against any suspected Soviet sympathizers began. At the same time the Estonian Army including the North Latvian Brigade loyal to the Ulmanis government started a major offensive against the Soviets in north Latvia. By the middle of June the Soviet rule was reduced to Latgale.

German–Latvian conflict

After the capture of Riga the German forces advanced north towards the Latvian city of Cēsis. The objective of the German forces had now clearly become the establishment of German supremacy in the Baltic by eliminating the Estonian military and Latvian national units, not the defeat of the Bolsheviks. The Estonian commander General Johan Laidoner insisted the Germans withdraw to a line south of the Gauja river. He also ordered the Estonian 3rd Division to seize the Gulbene railroad station.

On June 19, 1919, the Landeswehr and the Iron Division launched an attack to capture Cēsis. Initially, the Freikorps captured the town of Straupe and continued their advance toward the town of Limbaži. The Estonians launched a counterattack and drove the Freikorps out of the town. On June 21, the Estonians received reinforcements and immediately attacked the Landeswehr under Alfred Fletcher, who was forced to withdraw from an area to the northeast of Cēsis. The Iron Division attacked from Straupe towards Stalbe in an effort to relieve pressure on the Landeswehr. On the morning of June 23, the Germans began a general retreat toward Riga.^[13]

The Allies again insisted that the Germans withdraw their remaining troops from Latvia, and on June 3 intervened to impose an armistice between Estonia, Latvia, and the Landeswehr and Freikorps when the Latvians were about to march into Riga. By its terms the legitimate government of Ulmanis was to be restored, the Baltic German Landeswehr be placed under the command of the British officer Harold Alexander and the Iron Division to leave Latvia. The government of Ulmanis returned to Riga on 8 July 1919 and the Landeswehr became a component of the Latvian National Army.

Bermondt offensive

The Iron Division, however, did not leave Latvia. Instead Major Bischoff created a German Legion from over a dozen Freikorps units and turned the units over to the West Russian Volunteer Army. In all, the Iron Division transferred over 14,000 men, 64 aircraft, 56 artillery pieces, and 156 machine guns. Six cavalry units and a field hospital also went over. The offensive by the reformed German army was subsequently defeated by the Latvian Army, which received assistance from British and French warships and Estonian armoured trains.

Timeline

See also

• Aftermath of World War I
• Freikorps in the Baltic
• West Russian Volunteer Army
• Estonian War of Independence
• Lithuanian Wars of Independence
• United Baltic Duchy
• Ober Ost
• British campaign in the Baltic (1918–1919)

References

Bibliography

• Gen. Fürst Awaloff (1925). Im Kampf gegen den Bolschewismus. Erinnerungen von General Fürst Awaloff, Oberbefehlshaber der Deutsch-Russischen Westarmee im Baltikum. Verlag von J.J. Augustin, Glückstadt und Hamburg.
• Gen. Graf Rüdiger von der Goltz (1920). Meine Sendung in Finland und im Baltikum. Verlag von K.F. Koehler, Leipzig.
• 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.
• Claus Grimm: "Vor den Toren Europas – Geschichte der Baltischen Landeswehr" Hamburg 1963