Freeing the Baltic

by Geoffrey Bennett

In 1919, the Baltic was in ferment. The Red Army struggled to take over the nascent Baltic States; Finland was in revolt; German armies, attempting to conquer a realm in the east to compensate for defeat in the west, rampaged through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. As White armies marched on revolutionary Petrograd, the new governments of the Baltic States appealed desperately to the Allies for assistance.

Into this anarchy sailed a small British flotilla of light cruisers and destroyers. Opposing them were three Russian battleships and a host of lighter vessels. Cowan was given no clear instructions from the British Admiralty as to what he was expected to achieve, and, as negotiations continued through the Armistice, he effectively had to make his own policy. He succeeded to devastating effect. Despite having only a tiny force, he succeeded in improvising one of the most daring raids ever staged by the British navy - an attack which penetrated into the heart of impregnable Kronstadt and sank two Russian battleships. He outmaneuvered the Germans and the Whites in a game of cat and mouse, raid and counter raid which left Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania free and which formed the basis of a permanent bond between these three countries and Britain. Cowan proved that the greatness of the British navy lay not simply in the size and power of its ships but in the brilliance and courage of its officers and men.

Genres: World War I, History, Russian History, Military History

263 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Captain Geoffrey Martin Bennett DSC, FRHS (1908–1983) was a British Royal Navy officer and author. He also wrote fiction as "Sea-lion".

Reviews

[JD · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and very informative read about the role played by a small detachment of Royal Navy ships under the brilliant leadership of the Walter Cowan in securing the independence of the Baltic states after World War 1. The forces under Cowan's command were light forces, with nothing heavier than a light cruiser. With this small force he had to keep the Soviet Baltic Fleet at bay, enforce the naval blockade on the Germans until the signing of the Armistice, support Baltic forces fighting for independence against both the Soviets and the remaining German forces in the Baltic and keep his own ships safe from mines and torpedoes. He did all this while not officially being on a war footing and with his hands tied by the British government without an end agenda for the region at first.

This force was unique as it was not an all-arms intervention force as deployed by the Allies to northern, southern and eastern Russia in support of White forces there, but only a mere policing force to watch over the region. The leaders of this force though showed great initiative to block larger forces from caarying out their will on the region and with their help secured inter-war independence for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and to a lesser extent Finland.

The operations carried out by this force under the most trying conditions were daring and well executed, and led to three Victoria Crosses being gained by its members in amazing raids by small Coastal Motor Boats against the heavy units of the Soviet fleet in their bases, especially the Raid on Kronstadt. These raids are not well known enough, but sits right up there with the daring raids by small forces during World War 2. Would recommend this book to naval warfare enthusiasts.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book concerning the Baltic states post ww1 and the British royal navy's role in their independence.

The states, once part of the Russian empire and captured by germany, are now being fought over by Poland, White Russia, Bolsheviks, and, bizarrely, a German army that is very much alive and kicking on the Eastern front.

The start of this book explains where the people of the areas come from and is necessary to understand the rest of the book.
Unfortunately it is like chewing through a piece of hardboard, it really needed to be split out somehow.

The book cites a lot of primary sources from multiple sides and is generally a good read.

It got a little too tired up in personalities for me (the writer has a serious crush for Cowel) and i would have liked more details of the events.

There are some maps that (as usual) are a bit frustrating, the main map doesn't even show the single russian port, but are adequate and have some handy detail.

There is a section in the back detailing relevant ships but it would have been better if this was just in the narrative.

This period is just bizarre: countries not at war shelling each other and defeated countries launching major offensives seems so odd.

An interesting ready but needs freshening up a little.

[Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history of the politics & events in the Baltic states of Finland, Latvia, Estonia & Lithuania in the post WWI era 1918 - 1920 and the support given to these countries to resist Bolshevik, German, White Russian & even Polish aggression! The politics are typically hard going & as usual the UK politicians sat on the fence. However the UK Government & Admiralty in particular chose an outstanding leader in Rear Admiral Walter Cowan to lead their Naval Interests in the Baltic.
A man who very capably countered the ambitions of the much larger Bolshevik Navy & held them in check as well as foiling the imperialist ambitions of the German General von der Goltz to annex the Baltic states. A fascinating read, even though the politics are a tad boring.

[James Rooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is difficult to find works dealing with this particular subject, which involved a strange sort of twilight war for the officers and sailors of the Royal Navy after the end of the First World War.

The British had a long history of intervention in the Baltic, sending numerous expeditions to help allies or constrain foes, such as that of Sir John Norris and Sir James Sauramez, and Sir Charles Napier in the Crimean War.

But with the rise of German seapower following the unification of Germany, the British were unable to exercise any decisive influence within these constricted waters.

However, following the defeat of Germany, and the earlier collapse of Russia, the Royal Navy was able to re-enter the Baltic in some force.

If Mahan had lived to see this episode, he would have rejoiced in the influence that British seapower had on the nationalist movements in Latvia and Estonia. Among other things the British warships in the Dvina at Riga provided supporting fire for the Latvians against the Germans (still active in the region despite German defeat), provided a place of refuge for the Ulmanis Government aboard the Saratov (recalling the Portuguese Government's floating haven in the Peninsular War), blockaded the coast to deny food and arms to the Bolsheviks and Germans, and contained the Russian Baltic Fleet, thus neutralising it as a threat.

Cowan stands out as a particularly adroit commander and diplomat who had to juggle many responsibilities and many objectives. Cowan, and the Allies in general, were endlessly vexed by the intrigues of Rudiger von der Goltz, and latent German aspirations to incorporate the Baltic States.

On top of this the British were in a contradictory position due to the complicated nature of the Russian Civil War. Churchill wanted an all-out campaign to support the Whites, but Lloyd George pointed out that the Whites stood for the unity of Russia, as they saw it, which meant the end of Latvian and Estonian independence. The British, in other words, could not support both.

At least, not to the extent that they might have wished. Cowan and HM's Government might have hoped that Yudenich or Denikin would take St. Petersburg, but they were unable to coordinate their forces, and the Germans continued to draw men away from this important objective.

Ultimately the British came down on the side of supporting Latvia and Estonia while recognising the new Soviet Government. Unfortunately the precarious independence achieved by the Baltic States under the aegis of the Royal Navy would not survive WWII.

Highlights of the book were the fact that the British were operating very far from their bases, with the forward base at Bjorko Sound close to the Baltic Fleet's home base at Kronstadt. This is an incredible logistical achievement.

The centrepiece of the story has to be the daring use of CMBs, small motor torpedo boats that would today be classified as Fast Attack Craft (FAC), which deftly infiltrated the Russian fort system in Neva Bay, where they torpedoed the battleships Andrei Pervozvanni and Petropavlovsk.

Prior to this the cruiser Oleg had been sunk by the daring attack of Captain Augustus Agar on another CMB.

This effectively eliminated the Baltic Fleet as a factor in the Baltic movement for independence. The Russian battleships were not sunk, but were what we might term today as mission-killed, that is, effectively rendered incapable of accomplishing their mission.

The CMB attack on Kronstadt is rightly celebrated as perhaps the most incredible exploit of small attack boats, and was the primary reason I chose to read this work.

Another fascinating incident was the use of aircraft from the carrier HMS Vindictive to attack the Baltic Fleet at anchor. There were only twelve aeroplanes, and as they dropped only one-hundred bombs they were unable to achieve much. But this operation, at least in hindsight, presaged the more spectacular successes of carrier aircraft at Taranto and Pearl Harbour.

At the very least the attack showed that the Russians were terrified of the aerial threat, which was later exploited by Cowan to cause a distraction for his CMBs, and that there was no real defence against it.

If the British had developed an aerial torpedo at this date the Baltic Fleet would have been in a real pickle.

Many of the toponyms and ethnonyms are dated, e.g. referring to Tallinn as Reval, and the Latvians as the Letts. This shouldn't be confusing to anybody familiar with the history or geography of Eastern Europe, since this is a common problem for authors who have to decide between many different versions.

This is an exciting book on a poorly covered subject, demonstrating the professionalism and resolve of the Royal Navy in the face of superior force (on paper), proving once again that men can often overcome disadvantages with creativity and audacity.

[Rhuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but good overview of British intervention in the Baltic during the Russian revolution and civil war. Written by a noted British naval historian it's full of pip-pip patriotism, but this doesn't get in the way of a tight narrative clearly told. A more critical perspective would find it ironic, at least, that the British sought to exploit their semi-defeated German rivals as a proxy force against Bolshevik invasion, only to find their "allies" had every intention of incorporating these "nations" into the Reich.

It took threats and deceit to finally wedge the Germans out, but despite the author's happy ending we know the British could not maintain a presence so far from home; whereas, for Germany, this was a mere fenceline extension of East Prussia. The Baltic peoples themselves made it clear they'd choose anyone over the Bolsheviks, even Hitler. This raises a point not addressed in the book: how such rump states, from Estonia to Kosovo, can possibly maintain themselves without an external power "guaranteeing their sovereignty." The problem answers itself in the very posing.

As post WW I creations of the British Navy, the Baltic States continue their role, as a post cold war anti-Russian buffer zone which they are happy to fulfill. This story demonstrates that the self-determination of small states is possible in the global community - if those who rule it find them useful.

[Koit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr Bennett’s overview of the British squadron’s fight to support the independence of the Baltic nations flows. The book is extremely readable, and though I have some small things to point out regarding the style, these do not detract from a very good read.

The author continuously used adjectives that would be considered out-of-date by now (e.g., “Letts” instead of “Latvians”) and even when he wrote it, the author’s inspiration seems to have been the style of official communiques at the time. Also, the narrative relies on citations and quotes from memoirs and government papers to a very high degree, often breaking his own narrative to insert three or four paragraphs of Lloyd George’s or Sinclair’s or some Soviet historian’s research. This isn’t bad per se, but when the author’s words flow so well, I am not sure why he did this instead of picking out the most salient points from each.

The undoubted hero of the story is sir Walter Cowan though the introduction also shows the prior mission into the Baltic by Admiral Sinclair in the latter part of 1918. Unlike Sinclair, however, for Cowan we go back to the roots of that fighting man and also investigate the circumstances that led a naval officer to take part in the Boer War. The author was undoubtedly a fan, though he also tried to present sir Walter in a neutral light: as evidenced in the long tangent that he takes to investigate whether the mutinies experienced in the Baltic were because of sir Walter or despite sir Walter’s presence.

The action primarily focusses on Estonia to begin with, with the task of securing her shores. After that, there generally are two parallel lines: one to observe sir Walter’s task force blockading the Soviet Red Fleet and another to observe the events in Latvia where British ships offered support in one way or another to Ulmanis’ government. The Latvian port events are also the setting for numerous anecdotal stories, likely come down from the sailors, like when von der Goltz’s troops blocked in a pier the British troops were at, and they sailed to the adjacent pier. Nevertheless, the only figure from the Baltic nations to be given much space is Pitka who seems to have impressed everyone on the British side he met.

Overall, a very strong read and still seems to be one of the best books about British activities in the Baltics during their fight for independence.

This review was originally posted on my blog.

[Joe Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very good account of the Royal Navy’s pseudo war with Bolshevik Russia in the Baltic immediately after WW1.

[Tim Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

So full of detail as to be overwhelming, yet the climax (the Kronstadt raid) is over in three pages.