Формирование Западной русской добровольческой армии (лето – осень 1919 года)

• Formation of the West Russian Volunteer Army (summer–autumn, 1919)
• Rusijos Vakarų savanorių armijos kūrimas (1919 m. vasara–ruduo)

ENSo far the issue of the formation of West Russian Volunteer Army of P. Bermondt has not been analyzed in the Latvian military and political history. A number of fictional and inaccurate facts can be found in literature. The aim of the paper is to analyze the formation of the army of Bermondt not going into any details of military and strategic operations. Bermontiade played an important role in the history of Latvia‘s and Lithuania‘s struggle for their independence. Fighting against the pro-German West Russian Voluntary Army consolidated different layers of society in those two countries and it was understood that freedom may be gained only when all foreign troops will be driven from their territories. The armed forces of Latvia and Lithuania grew stronger fighting against the army of Bermondt although it was technically equipped and supplied better. In January 1919 Pavel Bermondt began the formation of his army from Russian prisoners of war in the city of Salzwedel, Germany, and got support from German industrialists and the military. The process of the formation of the army continued throughout the summer of 1919 in the territories of Latvia and North Lithuania and by the autumn of the same year the West Russian Volunteer Army, consisting of two big troops, the 1st Western Corps in Latvia and the 2nd Western Corps and Lithuania, was formed. The West Russian Volunteer Army of Bermondt was called Russian only formally since it consisted of former Russian prisoners of war who allied with the White Army in the Russian Civil War. It got military support from Germany and tried to implement its goals. German soldiers joined the army in large numbers and made up about two thirds of the total number of 16 000 soldiers stationed in Kurzeme, Zemgale and the northern part of Lithuania. The West Russian Volunteer Army defended the interests of Germany and posed a threat to Latvia‘s and Lithuania‘s independence.Russian White émigrés thought P. Bermont was betraying the ideas of Russia‘s White Guards but the formation of the West Russian Volunteer Army made them change their opinion for the sake of the restoration of the former Russian empire. The army of Bermont was important for Germany since it sought to revenge for its defeat in WW I, had plans to regain its former territories and expand its influence in the east. In fact, it was expected that the army would remain faithful to Germany and help it restore the previous order, e.g., reinstate monarchy.