Anzali Operation

Last updated
Anzali Operation
Part of the Southern Front of the Russian Civil War
Date18 May 1920
Location
Result

Soviet victory

Belligerents
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Flag of Russia.svg White Russia
Flag RSFSR 1918.svg  Russian SFSR
Socialist red flag.svg Persian Jangalis
Commanders and leaders
British Raj Red Ensign.svg Hugh Bateman-Champain   White flag icon.svg Flag RSFSR 1918.svg Fedor Raskolnikov
Units involved
British North Persia Force Soviet Caspian Flotilla
Strength
10 auxiliary cruisers
other auxiliary ships
6 seaplanes
500 soldiers
4 auxiliary cruisers
4 destroyers
1 transport
minor ships
2000 naval troops
Casualties and losses
2 dead
5 wounded
Garrison and fleet in harbour surrender
none

The Anzali Operation was a naval and amphibious action carried by the Soviet Caspian Flotilla during the Russian Civil War. The target was the White Russian Caspian Flotilla interned at Anzali, Iran, which was under the custody of the British North Persian Force.

Contents

Background

The Russian Civil War in Caspian Sea saw previous confrontation between the Soviet Russian Caspian Flotilla against the British Caspian Flotilla, the latter supporting the White movement as part of the Allied intervention. British/White Russians scored a victory during the Battle of Alexandrovsky Fort, but the harbor was reconquered in April 1920. [1]

After the disbandment of the British Caspian Flotilla and the withdrawal of their successor the White Caspian Flotilla to Anzali, Iran, a British military detachment had been in charge of the remainder ships, [2] that had all the breechblocks removed from their guns. [3]

Meanwhile in Moscow, Trotsky and Lenin concurred that a military strike against White die-hards and British forces entrenched on Persian territory would not only recover the warships and military material formerly in hands of White general Anton Denikin and now under control of Britain, but also would be a blow to British power in northern Persia. [4]

Action

The Soviet Russian Caspian Flotilla gathered a considerable force to attack Anzali. The task force was composed of four auxiliary cruisers (Proletariy, Rosa Luxemburg, Pushkin, Bela Kun), four destroyers (Karl Liebknecht, Delnyi, Deyatelnyi, Rastoropnyi), two gunboats (Kars and Ardagan) the transport Gretsiya and other minor units. Complete surprise was achieved, a naval shelling in early morning hit the main British headquarters as the first landing parties destroyed the telegraph lines [3] while, wave after wave, 2000 Bolshevik put a foot on the beach. [4] Subsequently, negotiators were sent by the British on a motor torpedo boat to agree on capitulation terms. [3] [5] Gurkha troops attempted a counterattack, but were repelled by the Soviet bombardment, suffering two dead and five wounded. [5] Once Hugh Bateman-Champain, the British commander, accepted the Bolshevik terms, resistance from the 500-strong garrison stationed quickly collapsed. [3]

The Persian governor formally accepted the Soviet Russian presence, the British/White detachment capitulated and fled the city on ground while the entire flotilla was seized without resistance. Seized ships included: auxiliary cruisers President Kruger , America, Europe, Africa, Dmitry Donskoy, Asia, Slava, Mylutin, Opyt and Merkur, the motor-torpedo-boat carrier (previously seaplane carrier) Orlenok, the seaplane-carrier (previously m.t.b. carrier) Volga , six seaplanes, four British motor torpedo boats, ten merchants, a number of support, auxiliary and minor units in addition to large amount of supplies and ammunition. [5]

Aftermath

The Anzali Operation marked the ending of the Russian Civil War naval confrontation on Caspian Sea. [6] The action also established the short-lived Persian Socialist Soviet Republic, with little British resistance, while a detachment of 800 Cossacks surrendered to the Soviets and Persian communists or "Jangalis". [7]

The withdrawal of the British garrison, and the loss of the White fleet along with the earlier capture by Raskolnikov flotilla of the British naval mission at Baku, who had been in transit to Anzali to take charge of the maintenance of the warships, prompted a widespread reaction of the British Cabinet and the public opinion. On 21 May, the government decided the transfer of British troops from Persian soil to Iraq, Palestine and India. A number of political analysts at the time, among them Arnold Toynbee, denounced what they perceived as a decline of British influence on the Caucasus and Persia itself. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilan province</span> Province of Iran

Gilan province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, in the northwest of the country. Its capital is the city of Rasht. The province lies along the Caspian Sea, in Iran's Region 3, west of the province of Mazandaran, east of the province of Ardabil, and north of the provinces of Zanjan and Qazvin. It borders Azerbaijan in the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandar-e Anzali</span> City in Gilan province, Iran

Bandar-e Anzali is a city on the Caspian Sea in the Central District of Bandar-e Anzali County, Gilan province, Iran, serving as the capital of both the county and the district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soviet Navy</span> Maritime service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces

The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with the opposing superpower, the United States, during the Cold War (1945–1991). The Soviet Navy played a large role during the Cold War, either confronting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in western Europe or power projection to maintain its sphere of influence in eastern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flotilla</span> Formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet

A flotilla, or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War</span> Foreign interventions in Russia between 1918 and 1925

The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German Empire's hands, particularly after the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and to rescue the Allied forces that had become trapped within Russia after the 1917 October Revolution. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the Allied plan changed to helping the White forces in the Russian Civil War. After the Whites collapsed, the Allies withdrew their forces from Russia by 1925.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caspian Flotilla</span> Military unit

The Caspian Flotilla is the flotilla of the Russian Navy in the Caspian Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persian Socialist Soviet Republic</span> 1920–1921 socialist state in Gilan Province, Iran

The Iranian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as the Socialist Soviet Republic of Gilan, was a short-lived unrecognized state, a Soviet republic in north-west Persia, south of the Caspian sea. It lasted from June 1920 until September 1921 and was established by Mirza Kuchik Khan, a leader of the "Constitutionalist Movement of Gilan", and his Jangali partisans, with the assistance of the Soviet Russia's Red Army.

The Russo-Persian Wars or Russo-Iranian Wars were a series of conflicts between 1651 and 1828, concerning Persia and the Russian Empire. Russia and Persia fought these wars over disputed governance of territories and countries in the Caucasus. The main territories disputed were Aran, Georgia and Armenia, as well as much of Dagestan – generally referred to as Transcaucasia – and considered part of the Safavid Iran prior to the Russo-Persian Wars. Over the course of the five Russo-Persian Wars, the governance of these regions transferred between the two empires. Between the Second and Third Russo-Persian Wars, there was an interbellum period in which a number of treaties were drawn up between the Russian and the Persian Empires, as well as between both parties and the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman interest in these territories further complicated the wars, with both sides forming alliances with the Ottoman Empire at different points throughout the wars. Following the Treaty of Turkmenchay, which concluded the Fifth Russo-Persian War, Persia ceded much of its Transcaucasian territory to the Russian Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunsterforce</span> Allied military force in the Middle East during WWI

Dunsterforce was an Allied military force, established in December 1917 and named after its commander, Major-General Lionel Dunsterville. The force comprised fewer than 350 Australian, New Zealand, British and Canadian officers and NCOs, who were drawn from the Western and Mesopotamian fronts. The force was intended to organise local units in northern Iran (Persia) and South Caucasus, to replace the Tsarist army that had fought the Ottoman armies in Armenia. The Russians had also occupied northern Iran in co-operation with the British occupation of southern Iran, to create a cordon to prevent German and Ottoman agents from reaching Central Asia, Afghanistan and India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Baku</span> 1918 battle between Ottoman–Azerbaijani forces and Bolshevik–Dashnak forces

The Battle of Baku took place in August and September 1918 between the Ottoman–Azerbaijani coalition forces led by Nuri Pasha and Bolshevik–ARF Baku Soviet forces, later succeeded by the British–Armenian–White Russian forces led by Lionel Dunsterville and saw Soviet Russia briefly re-enter the war. The battle took place during World War I, was a conclusive part of the Caucasus Campaign, but a beginning of the Armenian–Azerbaijani War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persian campaign (World War I)</span> Military campaign in World War I

The Persian campaign or invasion of Iran was a series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire, British Empire and Russian Empire in various areas of what was then neutral Qajar Iran, beginning in December 1914 and ending with the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, as part of the Middle Eastern Theatre of World War I. The fighting also involved local Persian units, who fought against the Entente and Ottoman forces in Iran. The conflict proved to be a devastating experience for Persia. Over 2 million Persian civilians died in the conflict, mostly due to the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman regime and Persian famine of 1917–1919, influenced by British and Russian actions. The Qajar government's inability to maintain the country's sovereignty during and immediately after the First World War led to a coup d'état in 1921 and Reza Shah's establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British campaign in the Baltic (1918–1919)</span> 1918–1919 British naval intervention during Russian Civil War

The British campaign in the Baltic 1918–1919 was a part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The codename of the Royal Navy campaign was Operation Red Trek. The intervention played a key role in enabling the establishment of the independent states of Estonia and Latvia. It failed to secure the control of Petrograd by White Russian forces, which was one of the main goals of the campaign.

Coastal motor boat

Coastal Motor Boat was a small high-speed British torpedo boat used by the Royal Navy in the First World War and up to end of the Second World War.

The Astrakhan-Caspian Military Flotilla was formed by the Bolsheviks in October 1918 for the purpose of defending the Lower Volga and northern parts of the Caspian Sea from the Volunteer Army. The existing flotilla, the so-called Military Fleet of the Astrakhan Krai had been operating in this region since April 1918 and consisted of 50 combat ships and 6 hydroplanes. It was reinforced by torpedo boats and submarines from Kronstadt in the fall of that year.

Brigadier-General Hugh Frederick Bateman-Champain, CMG was an Indian Army officer and cricketer.

The Caspian Flotilla is a naval force of Russia, with a lineage going back to 1722, it may also refer to:

The Battle of Alexander Fort, was a naval battle fought in the Caspian Sea during the Russian Civil War at the naval military base of Fort Alexandrovsky.

The 4th Region or the Northern Fleet is the flotilla of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy in the Caspian Sea.

HMS <i>Aladar Youssanoff</i>

HMS Aladar Youssanoff was a Russian cargo-tanking steel steamship for the transportation of dry cargo, as well as oil and kerosene in bulk which was seized by the British Royal Navy and used as seaplane tender in 1919 alongside HMS Orlionoch.

References

  1. John Guard. "The Royal Navy in the Caspian Sea 1918-1920". gwpda.org.
  2. Smele, Jonathan (2016-01-15). The "Russian" Civil Wars, 1916-1926: Ten Years That Shook the World. Oxford University Press. p. 148. ISBN   978-0-19-061321-1.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Tales of Sub-Lieutenant Ilyin: The Taking of Enzeli". www.marxists.org. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
  4. 1 2 Sergeev, Evgeny (2022). The Bolsheviks and Britain during the Russian Revolution and Civil War, 1917-24. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 115. ISBN   978-1-350-27353-5.
  5. 1 2 3 "Soviet Naval Battles during Civil War (re-done)". soviet-empire.com. Archived from the original on 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  6. Institute of Strategic Studies of the Caucasus, The Caucasus & Globalization, Volume 1, CA & CC Press, 2006, page 177
  7. Steven R. Ward, Immortal, Updated Edition: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces, Georgetown University Press, 2014, page 127
  8. Seergev (2022) pp. 115-16