Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919

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Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919
Part of the Russian Civil War, Polish–Soviet War, Estonian War of Independence, Latvian War of Independence, Lithuanian Wars of Independence, and Ukrainian War of Independence

Soviet anti-Polish propaganda poster 1920
DateNovember 18, 1918 – March, 1919
Location
Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Russia, Ukraine
Result

Soviet victory in Eastern Belorussia,
Soviet defeat in the Baltic states and Western Belorussia

  • Start of the
    Polish-Bolshevik War
Territorial
changes		 Occupation of the Baltic states and most of Belarus by the Red Army, creation of the Soviet republics -
Belorussian SSR
Belligerents
Swedish volunteers[1]
  Russian SFSR
Soviet Estonia
Soviet Latvia
Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR
Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee
Ukrainian SSR
Finnish Red Guards[2]
Commanders and leaders
Latvia Jānis Puriņš
Estonia Johan Laidoner
Second Polish Republic Józef Piłsudski
Max Hoffmann
Dmitry Nadyozhny
Strength
Total: unknown, 70,000+
Estonia: 19,000[3]
Poland: ~50,000		 285,000

The Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919 was part of the campaign by

Belarusian People's Republic was conquered and the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia
proclaimed.

The campaign eventually became bogged down, leading to the Estonian

Polish-Soviet War
.

Soviet war aims

The newly-formed

Baltic States in order to establish Soviet governments there. The newly-formed (on November 16) Western Army moved at night of November 17, 1918, into the operational vacuum created by the withdrawing Imperial German Army
.

Background

After signing the

Bolshevik Russia lost the European lands the Russian Empire had annexed in the 18th and 19th centuries. Most of today's Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic states were granted to the government of Germany, which in turn decided to grant these states limited independence as buffer states. However, the German defeat on the Western Front and the internal dissolution of Austria-Hungary made the plans for the creation of Mitteleuropa obsolete.[citation needed
]

In November and December, the German army started a retreat westwards. Demoralised officers and mutinous soldiers abandoned their garrisons en masse and returned home. The areas abandoned by the

Polish Army. The entire region abandoned by the German forces became a gigantic free-for-all theatre, where dozens of factions competed for power.[citation needed
]

The Bolsheviks were also implementing a new strategy, "Revolution from abroad" (Revolutsiya izvne—literally, "revolution from the outside"), based on an assumption that revolutionary masses desire revolution but are unable to carry it out without help from more organized and advanced Bolsheviks. Hence, as

Austro-Hungarian revolution, just as through Pskov and Vilnius goes the way for uniting with the German revolution. Offensive on all fronts! Offensive on the west front, offensive on the south front, offensive on the all revolutionary fronts!". The concept was developed in 1918 but officially published under that name first in 1920 (Wojennaja Mysl i Riewolucija, 3/1920, Mikhail Tukhachevsky.[4]

  • Territories occupied by Germany during 1918
    Territories occupied by Germany during 1918
  • Estonian and Soviet operations in Estonia and Latvia, 1918–19
    Estonian and Soviet operations in Estonia and Latvia, 1918–19
  • Soviet operations in Southeast Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belorussia in 1918–19
    Soviet operations in Southeast Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belorussia in 1918–19
  • Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish counterattacks
    Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish counterattacks
  • Polish-Ukrainian front and Polish-Soviet front as forming in February 1919
    Polish-Ukrainian front and Polish-Soviet front as forming in February 1919


Offensives

See also: Ukrainian War of Independence, Lithuanian–Soviet War, Latvian War of Independence, and Polish–Soviet War

Estonian direction

Main article: Estonian War of Independence

The

German Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 405 defending the city of Narva on 22 November 1918. The 6th Red Division captured the railway junction of Tapa from the freshly formed 4th and 5th Regiments of the Estonian Land Forces on 24 December and advanced to 34 km (21 mi) from the capital Tallinn. On 29 November in Narva, Estonian Bolsheviks led by Jaan Anvelt proclaimed a pro-Soviet puppet government — "Commune of the Working People of Estonia". In south Estonia, the 49th Red Latvian Rifle Regiment took the railway junction of Valga on 17 December and the city of Tartu on 24 December. The Estonian Army stopped the 7th Red Army's advance along the entire front on 2–5 January 1919. Two days later Estonian forces began the counteroffensive to completely expel the Soviet forces from Estonia. A Finnish volunteer marine brigade landed in the rear of the 6th Red Division, and the 1st Estonian Division captured Narva on 18 January.[5]

Subsequently, the northeastern front stabilized along the

Petseri by 28 March. Similar combat took place between the Estonian Army and the Northern Group of the Latvian Red Army along the Ainaži–Strenči–Alūksne front stabilised in north Latvia. In the positions along the Narva river, the Estonian 1st Division repelled 7th Red Army attacks.[6]

Byelorussian direction

The

Polish Army started sending units eastwards to help the self-defence units, while the Soviets did the same but in the opposite direction. Open conflict seemed inevitable.[citation needed
]

On January 12 Soviet High Command ordered deep scouting towards the

Luninets.[8]

It is speculated that among the aims of the Bolsheviks one goal was to drive through eastern and central Europe and support the

Revolutions in Germany and Austria-Hungary.[9] However, it is unlikely that the Soviets really expected to reach the Vistula. The military orders were full of propaganda. The main goal of the operation was likely to see how much territory could be opportunistically grabbed in the chaotic governmental flux caused by the aftereffects of postwar Eastern Europe before any serious independent governing authorities arose. [10]

Finally, the first Polish-Soviet clashes happened in mid-February, in the area of the towns of Bereza Kartuska and Mosty, where both armies clashed in a series of skirmishes. [11] The Soviet offensive came to a halt by late February and it became apparent that a new line had estalished itself between the Polish and Soviet forces. Both the Soviet offensive and the Polish counterattack started at the same time, which resulted in an increasing number of troops being brought to the area.

Romanian direction

In early 1918, Bessarabia, a former Russian province,

its own war with Romania. That was to no avail, as the region was successfully defended against Bolshevik attacks.[citation needed
]

Aftermath

The Baltic and Romanian Armies proved to be far more capable opponents than the Red Army had assumed. The Pskov Offensive of the Estonian Army's Petseri Battle Group captured Pskov on 25 May 1919, destroyed the Estonian Red Riflemen units in the process, and expelled all other Soviet forces from the territory between Estonia and the

Velikaya River. The 7th and 15th Red Armies began a counteroffensive in Ingria and in the north of Pskov in July 1919, which regained most of the lost territories of Petrograd and Pskov regions. With weapons provided by Britain and France and operational support by the Estonian Army and the Royal Navy, the White Russian Northwestern Army began Offensive White Sword on 28 September 1919 with the aim of capturing Petrograd. The Northwestern Army approached to within 16 kilometres (10 mi) of the city, but the 7th Red Army repulsed the White Russian troops, driving them back into Estonia.[6]

In the wake of the Soviet drive west as well as the Polish advance east through Byelorussia, a new line had formed between the newly created Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia and the Republic of Poland. Armies from both sides regularly engaged in local clashes despite the yet peaceful relations between Poland and the Soviets. Such clashes marked a prelude to the Polish-Soviet War which began in April of the same year with the Polish Vilna Offensive.[13]

Historiography

A comprehensive historical analysis of the campaign against Poland was performed by

codename
for this offensive: "Target Vistula"; however, it is not commonly used in historiography.

Norman Davies in his book claims that "Target Vistula" ("Цель – Висла" or similar) was the Soviet codename of the offensive. This term, however, is mostly absent in Polish and

Tukhachevsky's memoirs about his Polish campaign. Other translations of the offensive include Operation Vistula (from Polish Operacja Wisła).[14] Please notice that the term "Operation Vistula
" commonly refers to a totally different event.

References

  1. ^ Per Finsted. "Boganmeldelse: For Dannebrogs Ære - Danske frivillige i Estlands og Letlands frihedskamp 1919 af Niels Jensen". chakoten.dk (in Danish). Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved June 18, 2011.
  2. ^ Thomas & Boltowsky (2019), p. 23.
  3. OCLC 250435918. Archived from the original
    on August 22, 2010.
  4. ISBN 83-7001-914-5
    .
  5. ^ Pilsudski 1972.
  6. ^ a b Jyri Kork, ed. (1988) [1938]. Estonian War of Independence 1918–1920. Baltimore: Esto. Reprint from Historical Committee for the War of Independence, Tallinn
  7. ^ Davies 2003, p. 12.
  8. ^ Davies 2003, p. 39.
  9. ^ Davies 2003, p. 29.
  10. ^ Davies 2003, pp. 12–13.
  11. ^ Neiberg & Jordan 2008, p. 215.
  12. ISBN 9781857431377
    .
  13. ^ Davies 2003, p. 48 – 54.
  14. ISBN 83-85719-68-7. Archived from the original on June 28, 2006. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) or Andrzej Leszek Szczesniak. "Wojna polsko-bolszewicka 1918–1920"
    . THE SUMMIT TIMES (in Polish)..

Bibliography
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