Pavel Bermondt-Avalov

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
First World War
Russian Civil War
Latvian War of Independence
Lithuanian Wars of Independence
AwardsOrder of St. George
Order of Saint Anna
Other workRussian National Liberation Socialist Movement
Russian National Socialist Movement

Cossack adventurer-warlord. He is best known as the commander of the West Russian Volunteer Army which was active in present-day Latvia and Lithuania in the aftermath of World War I.[1][2][3][4]

Born into a Georgian-Russian family, Avalov received a musical education in

Eastern Prussia and Galicia
. Throughout his military career, Avalov was injured seven times.

After being demobilized in 1917, Avalov became involved in the

NSDAP. Despite this, he was imprisoned and sent to a concentration camp for embezzling funds meant for his Russian National Socialist Movement
. Avalov escaped to Italy through Switzerland, later relocating to Belgrade before finally emigrating to the United States and living there until his death.

Early life

Origins

Pavel Bermondt-Avalov was born in

Tatar origin, whose second husband would be staff sergeant Rafail Bermondt. Another version claims that Avalov was born in 1877 in Vladivostok to jeweler Rafail Bermant, by origin a Jew who converted to Orthodoxy. Other versions claim that Avalov's father was a Karaite captain in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. Nevertheless, Avalov adopted both his father's and stepfather's surnames and since 1919 called himself Prince Pavel Mikhailovich Bermondt-Avalov.[5]

Military service

Transbaikal Cossacks of the Russian Imperial Army

After receiving a musical education with Professor Ziminski of the

Cross of St. George, 3rd and 4th degrees. He was wounded three times during his service in the war.[5][6]

In 1905 Avalov converted to

Lutheran. At this time Avalov was married to a Polish noblewoman called Sophia Simonolevich. In 1909 Avalov supposedly retired from the army after failing to pass officer's exams.[5]

First World War

During the

First World War Avalov was enrolled in the 2nd Caucasus Corps of the 10th Army, performing as the personal adjutant of the corps commander Pavel Mishchenko. After the defeat of his corps in East Prussia, Avalov continued his service in the 31st Corps of the 4th Army in Galicia. Avalov was wounded four times during the course of his service, and was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 4th degree. Avalov was promoted to either captain or lieutenant during the war. In 1917 Avalov was demobilized.[5]

Civil War

Russian Civil War

See also: Russian Civil War

After the

Symon Petlyura's nationalist forces, who, after seizing power in the region, imprisoned Avalov and other Russian officers. The officers as well as Avalov himself were evacuated to Germany when the German army abandoned Ukraine. In Germany he was active in Russian monarchist groups.[5]

Formation of the Bermontians

See also: West Russian Volunteer Army
Pavel Bermondt-Avalov and Rudiger von der Goltz in a parade, c. 1919

After the end of the First World War the

Bolshevik army. While in exile in Germany, Avalov organized a small group of soldiers (around 300 men) from the Salzwedel prisoner of war camp. The unit was named the Graf Keller Corps after the murdered leader of the white movement, Fyodor Arturovitch Keller. In June 1919, the unit was relocated to Courland.[8]

Pavel Bermondt-Avalov with a group of officers, c. 1919

Avalov arrived in

Yudenich gave the army the order to join his army on the Narva front.[9] While Prince Lieven's detachment sailed to Narva, Avalov and Vyrgolich refused to carry out Yudenich's order under the formal pretext that their detachments were not completed, while in reality Avalov, who viewed his army as equal to the Northwestern one, wished to remain in Latvia and further the creation of a pro-German, anti-Bolshevik territorial union.[1][8]

After the disbandment of general Rüdiger von der Goltz's German Baltic volunteer corps, the German troops were ordered to retreat from the Baltics and return home, however Goltz and the soldiers refused in hopes of gaining land and citizenship in Latvia as was promised to them by the Latvian government. Avalov was later appointed the "commander of all Russian units formed in Courland and Lithuania" by Yudenich. Avalov's army numbered some 50,000 men at this point - 40,000 of them being German or Balto-German and 10,000 being Russian. Since the German government stopped paying for the troops, finances were mostly coming from German economic leaders that had interests in the Baltics, as well as J. P. Morgan Jr. and the Order of St John. Avalov's army also printed its own money.[10] The army was marked by internal disagreements between Avalov and Vyrgolich.[11][12]

War in Latvia

See also: Latvian War of Independence
1 Mark of the Western Russian Volunteer Army

The Bermontians occupied a large part of

Kurzeme and Riga in Latvia after hostilities began in August. In Riga, Avalov supposedly was carried in a cart and exclaimed to the locals that he had come to heroically save St. Petersburg, meanwhile his troops pillaged the occupied areas. Several bombs as well as leaflets in Russian were dropped on the city from airplanes, in which Latvians were asked to “submit to the authority of Colonel Bermondt in order to be annexed to the great and mighty Russia.” As Bermondt wished to conclude a truce with the Latvians, military help from Estonia and Britain in the form of armored trains and battleships arrived, which helped the Latvians to repel the Bermontian army led by von der Goltz after the decisive Battle of Riga.[8]

War in Lithuania

See also: Lithuanian Wars of Independence
Bermontian planes captured by the Lithuanian army after the Battle of Radviliškis

The Bermontians began their attack on Lithuania in July. The Bermontians, having occupied a large part of

Tilsit.[8]

Later years

Pavel Bermondt-Avalov and his officers in Berlin, c. 1920

Interwar

Pavel Bermondt-Avalov at funeral ceremony of Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, 1921

From 1920 to 1922 Avalov worked at the Berlin film studio

USSR. Avalov regularly came under the attention of German police for publicly expressing plans such as the formation of an army under the leadership of Grand Duke Kiril, a campaign to Moscow, etc.[5][6]

In 1925 Avalov published his memoirs in German and Russian, entitled In the Fight Against Bolshevism.

Fuhrer Adolf Hitler.[5][6]

Avalov was soon imprisoned in Berlin, and then transferred to a concentration camp outside the capital, on suspicion of embezzling the aforementioned 8,000 German mark subsidy given by the NSDAP to the Russian National Socialist Movement. In winter of 1935 he escaped from the concentration camp and fled to Switzerland, and then to Italy, settling in the city of Merano. Avalov married the princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who was the cousin of Grand Duke Kiril Vladimirovich, who owned an estate in Yugoslavia. At the end of 1936 he settled in Belgrade.[5][6]

Last years and death

Avalov eventually emigrated to the United States and settled in New York. Avalov continued participating in Russian emigre organizations until his death on 27 December 1973, although his death date is sometimes given as 12 January 1974.[5]

Personality and appearance

Supposedly Avalov would usually talk to his soldiers and officers, trying to sway them.[18] Most contemporaries' accounts of Avalov are negative; “an arrogant, empty, crafty and weak person... an arrogant, petty man; to a certain extent, smart and cunning, like a snake, with a certain insolence and bravura behavior, but cowardly at heart." Stephen Tallent, a British delegate, also characterizes Avalov as "...Caucasian by birth, but of mixed blood, perhaps half Jewish. He is adventurous, obviously suffers from megalomania, is very theatrical, and seems to see himself in the future as a possible Tsar of Russia. [...] Lately he has been very openly befriending Germans in Jelgava, organizing extravagant parties and often drinking heavily. It is said that he knows very little German, but he does have a few phrases, the main of which is Deutschland über alles, which he uses in front of Germans, especially when drinking."

Latvian writer Andrievs Niedra describes Avalov as of "average height, thin, but proportionately built, with dark hair and eyes, a pale face of a southerner, a small mustache sticking up. He held himself straight, solidly, sometimes his body seemed to freeze in iconic immobility, especially when he felt that many eyes were turned on him. Outside the house, he wore a long Caucasian suit with gazyrs on his chest and a hat on his head. Bermont spoke in a baritone voice... in a cheerful mood, he also willingly danced Caucasian mountain dances.” Avalov has also have been reported to shooting one of his officers in the leg after drinking too much alcohol.[9]

Legacy

In Lithuania and Latvia, the word Bermontiada gained prominence as a term to describe their independence wars, as well as becoming a synonym for "adventure".[19] Lucjan Żeligowski and his actions during the Żeligowski Mutiny were often compared to Avalov's warlord behavior.[20][21] Avalov is featured in the Latvian film Defenders of Riga, played by Girts Krumins.[22]

Honours and awards

  • Cross of St. George
    , 3rd and 4th degrees
  • Order of St. Anna
    , 4th degree.

Bibliographical sources

References

  1. ^ a b c Tamašauskas, Kazimieras. "Pavel Bermondt". vle.lt.
  2. ^ "Bermondt ("Prince Awaloff") Paul Mikhailovich". bundesarchiv.de.
  3. ^ "Bermont - Avlov". cultinfo.ru. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
  4. ^ "Pavel Bermondt-Avalov". britannica.com.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gusachenko, Andrei. "Pavel Bermont". enciklopedija.lv.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Avalov-Bermond Pavel Mikhailovich". belrussia.ru.
  7. ^ "RUSSIAN WESTERN VOLUNTEER ARMY". whiterussia1.narod.ru.
  8. ^ a b c d "Bermondt-Avalov Pavel Rafalovich". hrono.ru.
  9. ^ a b Šiliņš, Janis. "What and why you need to know about Prince Bermont, who served the Germans". rus.lsm.lv.
  10. ^ "SOVEREIGN ORDER OF SAINT JOHN OF JERUSALEM". osjknights.com. Archived from the original on 2017-03-07.
  11. ^ Čepėnas, Pranas. Naujųjų laikų Lietuvos istorija (Volume II ed.). p. 538.
  12. ^ Birontas, Adolfas. Bermontininkams Lietuvą užpuolus. p. 67.
  13. ISBN 5-430-00866-4
    .
  14. ISBN 5-420-00631-6
    .
  15. ^ Baniusevičius, Aleksandras. Lietuvos kariuomenės kautynės su Bermontininkais prie Radviliškio.
  16. ^ Niessel, Henri Albert. Vokiečių išsikraustymas iš Baltijos kraštų. p. 79.
  17. ^ "Trimitas". 84 (13): 10. 1922.
  18. ^ "How a German general used Russian soldiers to try to get back at Latvia". eng.lsm.lv.
  19. ^ "Trimitas". 12: 16. 1920.
  20. ^ "Trimitas". 16: 2. 1920.
  21. ^ "Trimitas". 14: 261–262. 1933.
  22. ^ "Rigas sargi (2007)". imdb.com.
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