TheSoviet westward offensive of 1918–1919 was part of the campaign bySoviet Russia into areas abandoned by theOber Ost garrisons that were being withdrawn to Germany following that country's defeat inWorld War I. The initially successful offensive against theRepublic of Estonia ignited theEstonian War of Independence which ended with the Sovietrecognition of Estonia. Similarly, the campaigns against theRepublic of Latvia andRepublic of Lithuania ultimately failed, resulting in theLatvian–Soviet Peace Treaty andSoviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty respectively. In Belarus, theBelarusian People's Republic was conquered and theSocialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia proclaimed.
The campaign eventually became bogged down, leading to the EstonianPskov Offensive, the White RussianPetrograd Offensives, theLithuanian–Soviet War, theLatvian War of Independence and the continuation of theUkrainian–Soviet War.
The newly formedRed Army was growing in personnel, andVladimir Lenin could gather enough strength to replace withdrawing Westerncurtain forces ("Западная завеса") by solid military and re-take the lands lost by Russia in 1917 by simply following the withdrawing German army. Upon receiving the news about theGerman Revolution, on November 13, 1918, the Soviet government annulled theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk and issued orders to theRed Army to move in the direction ofBelarus,Ukraine and theBaltic 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 withdrawingImperial German Army.
After signing theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk,Bolshevik Russia lost theEuropean lands theRussian Empire had annexed in the 18th and 19th centuries. Most of today'sPoland,Belarus,Ukraine and theBaltic states were granted to the government ofGermany, which in turn decided to grant these states limited independence asbuffer states. However, the German defeat on the Western Front and the internal dissolution ofAustria-Hungary made the plans for the creation ofMitteleuropa obsolete.[citation needed]
In November and December, the German army started a retreat westwards. Demoralised officers and mutinous soldiers abandoned their garrisonsen masse and returned home. The areas abandoned by theCentral Powers became a field of conflict between local puppet governments created by Germany as part of its plans, local nationalist governments that sprung up after the withdrawal of the German forces, Poland, and theBolsheviks wanting to incorporate these areas intoSoviet Russia. Belarusian,Estonian,Latvian,Lithuanian, Ukrainian and evenCossack national governments were formed. Internal power struggles prevented any of the governments inBelarus from gaining lasting power. InUkraine the situation was even more complex, with an ongoing conflict betweenNestor Makhno's anarchists,communists, theWhite Movement, various governments of Ukraine and the rebornPolish 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, asLeon Trotsky remarked, the revolution should be "brought on the bayonets" (of theRed Army), as "through Kiev leads the straight route for uniting with theAustro-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]
TheGdov andYamburg Detachments of the 7th Red Army attacked theGermanInfanterie-Regiment Nr. 405 defending the city ofNarva on 22 November 1918. The 6th Red Division captured the railway junction ofTapa from the freshly formed 4th and 5th Regiments of theEstonian Land Forces on 24 December and advanced to 34 km (21 mi) from the capitalTallinn. On 29 November in Narva, Estonian Bolsheviks led byJaan Anvelt proclaimed aSoviet republic — "Commune of the Working People of Estonia". In south Estonia, the 49th RedLatvian Rifle Regiment took the railway junction ofValga on 17 December and the city ofTartu 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 theNarva river. In south Estonia, the Estoniancommando-typeTartumaa Partisan Battalion drove the RedLatvian rifle regiments out of Valga on 31 January. The 7th Red Army was temporally forced out of the boundaries of Estonia. On 16 February the Red Army started a counteroffensive to recapture Estonia. The Soviet forces, including units of so-calledEstonian Red Riflemen, captured the areas ofSetomaa,Vastseliina andRäpina by 15 March. The Estonian 2nd Division counterattacked and recapturedPetseri by 28 March. Similar combat took place between the Estonian Army and the Northern Group of the Latvian Red Army along theAinaži–Strenči–Alūksne front stabilised in northLatvia. In the positions along the Narva river, the Estonian 1st Division repelled 7th Red Army attacks.[6]
TheRed Army enteredPolotsk on 21 November,Drissa andRahachow on 22 November,Zhlobin on 24 November,Babruysk on 28 November,Barysaw on 3 December,Slutsk on 8 December andIgumen on 9 December. On 10 December 1918, the Red Army enteredMinsk almost unopposed, putting an end to the short-livedBelarusian People's Republic. On 1 January 1919, theSocialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia (SSRB) was proclaimed inSmolensk. On 8 January, the SSRB government relocated to Minsk. At the same time, Polish and Belarusian self-defence units sprung up across westernBelarus. Ill-equipped and composed mostly of local recruits, they were determined to defend their homes from what the newspapers described as a "Red menace". Similar Bolshevik groups were operating in the sector and a series of skirmishes ensued. The Polish-Soviet struggle overVilna in the first week of 1919 was a sign of things to come, as the Polish militia was forced to withdraw after the first organised units of the Soviet Western Army entered the city. In response, thePolish 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 theNeman River. On February 12 that order was updated to include theBug river.[7] On that dayJukums Vācietis ordered the new Western Command to carry out a "reconnaissance in-depth" as far asTilsit,Brest-Litovsk,Kowel andRivne. He also ordered the securing of main railway junctions, including those inVilna,Lida,Baranowicze andLuninets.[8]
It is speculated that among the aims of the Bolsheviks one goal was to drive through eastern and central Europe and support theRevolutions 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 ofBereza Kartuska andMosty, 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 established 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.
In early 1918, Bessarabia, a former Russian province,united with Romania after two months of independence as theMoldavian Democratic Republic.[12] The Soviet did not accept the union and tried to retake the region by force. However, it all amounted to several sporadic attacks along theDniester River. The Russians also attacked to supportCommunist Hungary, which hadits own war with Romania. That was to no avail, as the region was successfully defended against Bolshevik attacks.[citation needed]
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 theVelikaya River. The 7th and 15th Red Armies began a counteroffensive inIngria 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, theWhite RussianNorthwestern 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 the7th 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]
A comprehensive historical analysis of the campaign against Poland was performed byNorman Davies in his bookWhite Eagle, Red Star (1972). Davies mentioned thecodename 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 andSoviet historiography of the period. In that association, one may notice the title "An Expedition beyond Vistula" (Pokhod za Vislu) ofTukhachevsky's memoirs about his Polish campaign. Other translations of the offensive includeOperation Vistula (from PolishOperacja Wisła).[14] Please notice that the term "Operation Vistula" commonly refers to a totally different event.
Reprint from Historical Committee for the War of Independence, Tallinn
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help) orAndrzej Leszek Szczesniak."Wojna polsko-bolszewicka 1918–1920".THE SUMMIT TIMES (in Polish)..