A airfield somewhere in Flanders
11/11/1918
1000
It was over. Manfred refused to believe that it was over.
Der Deutsches Heer was losing, but surely
Deutschland would never surrender. (1) Yet the Kaiser himself had left for Holland, abdicating his throne as he fled. This disturbed Manfred the most, as he had always believed that the
Kaiser was a vital part of
Germania; it's beating heart. If the
Kaiser had fled, than was left for
Germania? Manfred was wrestling with these thoughts as his chief mechanic Frederick walked into his command hut.
"
Freiherr, the Kiel mutineers have been suppressed, but
Admiral Scheer ordered the entire fleet scuttled in deeper waters to prevent our ships from falling into enemy hands."
"
Feldwebel, that is the first piece of good news I have heard all day.
Lang lebe der Kaiserliche Marine."
Frederick nodded in agreement and then handed Manfred a rather large piece of paper.
"
Freiherr, everyone in
Jagdgeschwader 1 has decided to follow your orders in spite of recent events. We will fight on if you order it sir!"
"No Frederick, the war is over. I have no heart to see any more men under my command die for that dog of a
Kaiser and his foolish
Generalstab. Prepare our planes for destruction, but make sure they are not destroyed until I give the order."
"
Jawohl Freiherr." As Frederick walked over to the planes, he wondered what had changed inside the
Freiherr in these few days. A officer who was once dedicated to his duty now insulted the
Kaiser's name.(2) But Frederick understood the real reason behind this change. It was truly the end of the
Kaiserreich.
Manfred sat alone in his command hut, fingering his Luger P08. He put it down on the table and stood up. Killing himself would make him no better than the Kaiser. There was still hope for
Deutschland yet and Manfred had a feeling that his destiny had something to do with it.
Riga, German occupied Latvia
June 17th, 1919
1900
Oberleutnant Ludwig Maximilian Erwin von Scheubner-Richter paused to look up at the name of the bar before going inside. He was sure that this was the right one, as all the other ones had yielded no results. Outside, the high pitched screams of a teenage girl echoed through the night air, followed by the rapacious laughter of several young men. It was like Armenia all over again, thought Maximilian, except this time it was his fellow Germans that were the wolves and the Latvians that were the sheep. As he walked inside the bar he was saluted by a
Jäger in a sloppy fashion. The man had his rifle slung over his shoulder casually as he held a mug of beer in his left hand, and he looked half-drunk by the looks of it.
"
Soldat, do you know where can I find
Feldwebel Werner Herzfeld?" The soldier nodded before pointing to a man sitting in the corner of the room, at a private table. Ludwig nodded his thanks before walking over to the table, as the soldier saluted again before letting out a loud burp. This bar was a busy place tonight, observed Max, as he weaved through drunken German soldiers who were getting stumbling out of the bar. As he reached the table, the man sitting down looked up at him. It was Werner, who seemed to recognize Maximilian in the same instant.
"Maxi! Where have you been these past weeks,
Genosse? I haven't seen you since we took Riga on the 23rd of May." exclaimed Werner as he got out of his seat to shake his friend's hand. The 2 men shook hands, albeit in a very warm and friendly fashion.
"I've been busy Werner. HQ noticed my fluency in Russian and Latvian, so they assigned me the job of being a translator. I've been going with the around the local villages collecting taxes with the 1st Battalion for the past couple weeks." replied Max, as he and Werner sat down at the table. Werner chuckled at the thought of his friend become a glorified tax collector when he had been member of the German consulate in the Ottoman Empire during the war. Alas, how the tides of fate ebb and flow.
"Want a drink Max? You look like you could use one right now."
"Just a single shot of
schnapps Werner. I don't want to go home drunk tonight." Werner gestured to a nearby waitress and called for 2 shots of
schnapps.
"Speaking about home, how is your Mathilde?"
"She's alright. Just the usual, you know." Max's face grew slighty uneasy at the mention of his wife Mathilde, the mere mention of her name reminding him of the doctor's diagnosis.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you Max, but there'll be a party with the prettiest girls in Riga over at the hotel down the street in about half an hour. You coming?"
"I can't Werner, I've still got Mathilde and those vows mean something to me." explained Max. A waitress arrived with their drinks and the 2 men made a toast to the
Vaterland before downing their shots in a single gulp.
"Tsk, a pity. You should enjoy life while you can Maxi, lest you become an wrinkly old man with unfulfilled desires." teased Werner. "But it's your choice in the end. Say, you haven't come all the way back to Riga just to talk with your old friend Werner and visit your wife, have you?"
Maxi smiled. "You guessed it Werner. The real purpose of my trip is to inform
General Bischoff about the state of our defenses outside the city."
"So how are they Maxi? How is our glorious trench-line?"
"Perfectly fine. Our enemies will be decimated before they even get within a kilometer of our defenses. Every house near the frontline has been turned into a blockhouse, trenches are stocked with food, water, ammo and medical supplies and we've even set up the half dozen 152mm Russian guns we captured from the Reds into some sort of battery."
"
Wunderbar." Werner took a shiny new gold pocketwatch out of his coat pocket and peered at it for a second. "
Mein Gott, I'm going to be late for the party!" he exclaimed. "I'm sorry for cutting this conversation short Maxi but I've seriously got to go." explained Werner as he rose and dusted himself off.
"It's alright Werner. We can continue our conversation tomorrow at HQ. Just make sure to enjoy yourself tonight, lest you become an wrinkly old man with unfulfilled desires." Both men laughed at the joke before shaking hands. As Werner walked out of the bar towards his party, Maxi noticed that his friends was also sporting a pair of brand new officer's boots, together with his shiny new pocketwatch. They were probably looted from dead Latvian or Estonian officers thought Maxi, as walked over to the bar and placed several bills on the counter along with a number of coins.
"For the drinks. Coins are for the waitress." The girl smiled at him as he walked out of the now almost deserted bar towards his apartment. As he walked into the warm summer breeze, Maximilian thought about what he had heard from Werner. A party with the finest girls of Riga; more like a orgy of coerced sex and rape. The desperate cries of another teenage girl pierced the nighttime silence as Maximilian heaved a deep sigh, though he did not slow down.
We were once men, but now we are nothing, nothing but beasts. Beasts of war let loose on an innocent country because those republican cowards in Berlin abandoned us to our fate. Look at us now God, look at what we've become.
*****************************************************************************
The surrender and destruction of
der Kaiserreich marked the end of an era. On November 9th, 1918 the
Kaiserliche Marine under the command of
Admiral Reinhard Scheer scuttled itself in deeper water off Kiel after suppressing the Kiel Mutiny through force and persuasion.(3) This controversial act was both a curse and blessing to Germany. Most German people applauded the act at the time, as it spare them the further humiliation of having their navy seized by the victorious Entente. The majority of the Entente were enraged by this blatant act of resistance, especially France, who desired the
Hochseeflotte as war prizes.
This final act of defiance lead to an immediate occupation of the Ruhr Valley and Rhineland following the November Armistice, enforced by the Entente nations. French, British, American and later Belgian troops began marching into the Rhineland and Ruhr on December 9th 1918. Their entry was unopposed, as what remained of the Imperial German Army was busy demolishing the many Soviets that had sprung up all over Germany. Alone among the Entente, the Americans advised mercy, as they feared that such harsh terms on a proud country would lead to a general hatred of the Entente nations by the German people. Their warnings were ignored by the rest of Entente, especially France and Belgium. What no one could predict was that the Treaty of Versailles would ultimately come back to haunt the Entente in ways they could never have imagined in 1918. (4)
Meanwhile on the Eastern Front the Bolshevik Revolution was raging in full force, and it spilled over into the former lands of the Russian Empire such as the Baltic States, Poland, and Ukraine. After the November Armistice, German forces began a massive, yet orderly retreat back to German territory, but not before turning over control of the areas they held to right-wing, counter-revolutionary forces. The state of Ukraine, previously supported by the Germans after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, was given control of all lands in Ukraine formerly held by German forces.
Despite the massive retreat, German ambitions for a nation in the Baltic area ruled by ethnic Germans remained. An experienced German infantry officer,
Major Josef Bischoff, formed a
Freikorps unit out of the thousands of German troops that were being withdrawn from Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, with the goal of repelling any Bolshevik advance in East Prussia. Yet the
Eiserne Brigade and other similar formations had their own agendas as well; the establishment of a German state in the Baltics. Estonia saw through their ruse and refused any German assistance, accepting volunteers from Scandinavia instead, together with naval support from the Royal Navy. Somehow, the Estonians managed to successfully repel the Bolshevik advance in a brutal war that last for a year.
Latvia however, was less successful than Estonia and requested the assistance of the
Eiserne Brigade. The brigade's ranks had swelled after an recruitment campaign which targeted returning German soldiers from both fronts, promising money and land in the Baltics in exchange for service. A similar unit called the
Baltische Landeswehr was formed around the same time by
Major Alfred Fletcher, a German infantry officer of Scottish descent. After discussions among the two commanders and their staff, the 2
Freikorps units soon merged into one singular division, the
Eiserne Division. The overall commander of the new unit was
Generalmajor Rüdiger von der Goltz, who had previously commanded the
Baltic Sea Expeditionary Division in the last war. The new division (though they were composed of battle hardened veterans) quickly experienced their baptism of fire on February 7th 1919 while defending the port Libau (Liepaja). They proceeded won several victories against the Red Army in short succession, one of which saw the complete annihilation of 10000 Latvian Riflemen, one of the Red Army's elite units. Over the course of the fighting, the Germans copied their foes in mounting their MGs on horse drawn carts, a significant improvement in mobility and portability. (5)
With the Red Army defeated and in total retreat, the Germans executed their secret agenda and turned on their Latvian allies, seizing Riga on May 23, 1919 with the assistance of local Baltic Germans. The Latvian nationalists immediately counterattacked German forces, but were driven back in disorder. Defeated, the Latvians turned to the Estonians for assistance in driving out the Germans. Yet the combined Latvian and Estonian forces were still incapable of expelling the Germans from Latvia and it was demonstrated during the German defense of a small town 50 km northeast of Riga on June 10th, 1919. The 3rd Estonian Division along with assorted Latvian Nationalist forces attacked the town, (which had been turned into a small fortress by it's battle-hardened German defenders) hoping to storm it on the first try, but ended up losing over half their numbers dead or wounded after several failed assaults on the position. A turning point in the battle occurred when the Germans counterattacked using
Sturmtruppen tactics and forced the Latvians and Estonians to retreat in disorder, leaving behind their dead and wounded. German forces did not have sufficient medical supplies at the time and the Hauptmann in charge of the German forces ordered the medical personnel to treat their own wounded first, leaving the Latvians and Estonians to bleed to death where they fell.
Meanwhile in Riga, terrible things were unfolding as German troops ran rampant through the streets killing anyone accused having Latvian nationalist or socialist/communist sympathies. Their bodies were hung on lampposts and telephone poles for all to see, but the Germans didn't stop there with their cruelty and brutality. Droves of teenage girls were raped day and night, many by several German soldiers at once and some were killed after being raped. The "Iron Terror" lasted for several weeks until
General Bischoff and
Generalmajor Rüdiger von der Goltz put an end to the chaos, not because they cared about the Latvian people but because they feared that their troops were becoming undisciplined. Though the killing came to a halt, the rape continued, for the Germans were the law and none dared to oppose them as they fear the consequences. Many German soldiers consequently took advantage of
General Bischoff's orders by extorting protection money from the shopkeepers and store owners of Riga. The Germans soldiers who planned to stay in Latvia after their victory began to looks for prospective brides in the surrounding villages and countryside (Riga was locked down and under curfew, which prevented news of the "Iron Terror" from spreading to the countryside and other nearby towns). Quite a few marriages took place during the German occupation, with the Germans taking many of the most beautiful Latvian country maidens as brides. Like things in the world though, the German occupation of Latvia would come to an end. (6)
The Entente nations "insisted" that the German withdraw from the Baltic States under the terms of the Versailles treaty, yet
General Josef Bischoff (he was promoted to the rank of General by after the stunning victories of the
Eiserne Division over the Red Army) initially refused to withdraw, as the Germans had the upper hand in terms of men, supplies, and equipment, along with the fact that they were occupying Riga, all nearby towns and the surrounding countryside. On June 25th, the
Eiserne Division boasted 14,000 combat hardened veterans, some 60 aircraft of varying types (they had a surprisingly high serviceability rate), some 50 artillery pieces of varying calibers, and over 150 machine guns. A well-equipped field hospital and six battalion sized cavalry units (two of them were composed of White Cossacks who joined the Germans after their stunning victories over the Red Army) rounded out the capabilities of the reinforced division. The Latvians and Estonians would have certainly underwent another terrible slaughter had they tried to recapture Riga alone and without support. (7)
However, the Germans knew they were surrounded by hostile forces in a foreign land without any support from Berlin and began preparing their defenses immediately after their victory on June 10th. Defensive trenches were dug, MG positions were set up, and sandbagged artillery positions were set up by the men of the
Eisen Division. Morale and spirits remained high among the Germans; confident that they could annihilate anything and everything the Latvians and Estonians threw at them. Yet it was at this moment that the Entente sent a delegation to
General Bischoff's headquarters with an ultimatum: withdraw or Riga would be blockaded and then bombarded by naval gunfire. There were several Allied warships anchored outside of the harbor of Riga and their delegates gave
General Bischoff and his staff one hour to make up their minds. After consulting with his staff and receiving approval from his commander
Generalmajor von der Goltz,
General Bischoff decided to withdraw the
Eisen Division from Latvia under the condition that they be allowed to keep their weapons, which he said would be needed to combat the Communists that were plaguing Germany. This condition was reluctantly granted by the Allied delegation and thus the German occupation of Latvia ended on July 20th, 1919.
The Latvians cheered upon hearing this news but little did they know the consequences of their victory. Before leaving Riga,
General Bischoff ordered his men to place timed demolition charges and booby traps in many of the cities buildings and set them to explode as the last German units left Riga. He also ordered all ships that were not being used to evacuate German forces (the Germans conducted the withdrawal by both sea and land, with the naval withdrawal being led by
Generalmajor Rüdiger von der Goltz) to be scuttled at the mouth of the harbor, to spite the Entente and the Latvians. If those orders weren't enough, the
General ordered his men to conduct as scorched earth campaign as they retreated back to East Prussia. As the Germans marched through the Latvian countryside towards East Prussia, they burned houses, destroyed bridges and knocked down telephone poles. Villages that didn't hand over food and water to the Germans were massacred, with their inhabitants (both the dead and the living) thrown down the well, followed by a few hand grenades. Latvian forces harassed the Germans on several occasions but they were usually driven off before they could cause any serious casualties or damage to the Germans. The
Eiserne Division was not alone in its westward march back to East Prussia, for the 12,000 men that made up the
Deutsche Legion (a collection of various German
Freikorps commanded by
Major Sievert) chose to follow the
Eiserne Division back home to
Deutschland.
This was another blow to the West Russian Volunteer Army (commanded by Cossack General Pavel Bermont-Avalov), which was now down to 20,000 men (the vast majority were Cossack cavalry that had served in the Imperial Russian Army during the war) without any aircraft and little heavy artillery. Ultimately, General Bermont Avalov chose to retreat to Lithuania, despite the Lithuanian government's refusal to allow the Bermontians (the name given by the Latvians and Lithuanians to the West Russian Volunteer Army) to establish a base of operations in Lithuania. They captured several Lithuanian cities including
Šiauliai,
Biržai, and
Radviliškis, though they engaged in the same brutal practices as the
Eiserne Division; robbing, looting, raping, and killing the local populace when it pleased them. One of the more interesting rules they enforced once they captured a town was that only Russian could be used in all matters concerning administration. Yet for all their success they were defeated in a battle near Radviliškis when the Lithuanians launched an all-out attack against the last of the foreign invaders that still remained on their lands. The Bermontians were forced by a superior number of Lithuanian troops and forced to flee.
After their defeat on July 15th, General Bermont-Avalov and his staff finally chose to give up their ambitions in the Baltic region and retreat towards East Prussia like the Germans before them. Their journey was far more dangerous than that of the Eisen Division because the locals were wary of the Cossacks and White Russians. Lithuanians made guerilla attacks against the long winding columns of men, horses, wagons that made up the West Russian Volunteer Army, though they did little damage because the Cossacks were skilled in fighting off such attacks. After a long, grueling march through hostile territory, often made barren by the marauding Germans that had passed through before them, the Bermontians finally reached the border with East Prussia on August 8th, 1919. The German government in East Prussia agreed to grant them asylum under the condition that they put themselves under the command of the government. General Bermont-Avalov had little choice in the matter, with hostile Lithuanians on their backs and their homeland of Russia being devoured by the Bolshevik beast. Thus he agreed to the terms offered by the Germans and the 20,000 strong West Russian Volunteer Army settled in East Prussia, awaiting the day where they would march into Russia and liberate their homeland from the evil Bolshevik that plagued the land.
As for the
Eiserne Division and
Deutsche Legion, the infantry and cavalry columns finally reached East Prussia on August 2nd, 1919 after a long march through the Lithuanian and Latvian countryside. The planes and artillery reached East Prussia a couple days earlier on July 31st, disassembled and transported (along with their crews, of course) in "requisitioned" merchant ships that sat in Riga harbor on the day of the ultimatum. Being packed in nondescript crates ultimately prevented them from being destroyed as part of the Treaty of Versailles, because the crates were quickly whisked off to secret warehouses that were guarded by their crews after being unloaded at the docks. The infantry took a few casualties on their march back, but overall the withdrawal was a brilliant success,
General Josef Bischoff,
Generalmajor Rüdiger von der Goltz and
General Alfred Fletcher being hailed as heroes by their men and the Germans in East Prussia, where the German populace saw them as heroic warriors returning home after driving off the Red Hordes that would have otherwise overrun East Prussia.
Latvian women and girls who followed their German husbands, fiances, and lovers back to Germany were welcomed, as many were ethnic Germans or could speak German decently. These women and girls quickly integrated into their new communities, but not without bring some of their own Latvian traditions to their new households. They were not the only ones to follow the Germans back home, as tens of thousands of Latvians of German ethnicity chose to join the
Eiserne Division on the march home rather than remain in a nation where they would be persecuted for being German due to the actions of the same men they now accompanied. (8) The Russians and Cossacks that made up the West Russian Volunteer Army also integrated rather well into the East Prussian communities where they chose to settle. It was around then that a new
vois’ko (host) of Cossacks was formed from the Cossacks of the
Eisen Division's cavalry units and the West Russian Volunteer Army, who called themselves
Prussian Cossacks after their new, adopted homeland. This new host was made up of Cossacks from different hosts located all across the former Russian Empire, though they were all Russian speaking people who were belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church. Many of these Prussian Cossacks married German women and consequently, their children grew up speaking German as well as Russian, in a new culture that had traditions from both groups. General Pavel Bermont-Avalov, the man who lead them to their new home, was elected Ataman (leader) of the Prussian Cossacks, a role he would retain until his retirement after the Second World War. The Prussian Cossacks would later play an important role during Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, where they would exact a terrible vengeance against the Soviets for the expulsion of their forefathers from their original homeland.
Ultimately the German occupation of Latvia would have several far reach consequences on the fledgling nation. Chief among them was the destruction wrought upon Riga and it's people during the occupation, the wholesale destruction of the land traveled by the Germans during their westward retreat, as well as the Latvian girls and women who were raped during the occupation. The majority of Latvian girls and women who were raped by Germans during the occupation would be ostracized by the rest of the populace in the coming years. This was due to the thousands of Latvian maidens who willing followed their German lovers and husbands back to East Prussia, which led the Latvian people to come up with the incorrect conclusion that these women had seduced German soldiers instead of being raped. Children born to these women and girls from rape were also ostracized by the community and shunned by their peers. In a horrific twist of irony, many would later become willing collaborators with Nazi Germany so they could seek revenge on those who wronged them in their youth. Overall, the damage done to the Latvia and it's people was immense both in monetary and psychological terms, and the nation struggled to recover in the following years though they would eventually succeed in their task. The biggest consequence of the German occupation however, would be suffered by the Soviets just over 20 years later, when Stalin gave the Baltic Nations an ultimatum in the summer of 1940. (9)
French troops on occupation duty in the Ruhr Valley following WW1.
During the occupation, France attempted to boost production by bring in more foreign investments, but without willing workers, this plan fell on its face. This occupation would last until 1925, when a combination of sabotage and general strikes by the populace, supported by various
Freikorps, forced them and the Belgians out. The people of the Ruhr Valley and the Rhineland would be some of the Nazi Party's earliest and most loyal supporters due to their desire for revenge against the French and Belgians. The German nationalism preached by the Nazi Party appealed to the wounded pride and shattered spirits of the inhabitants in those regions, who's votes would ultimately decide the fate of Germany in 1930.
SMS Bayern sinking stern first after being scuttled by it's crew. The steel and guns from these scuttled ships would serve Germany once again in the coming decades.
Generalmajor Rüdiger von der Goltz and General Josef Bischoff.
Von der Goltz is on the left and Bischoff on the right.
Generalmajor Rüdiger von der Goltz was the overall commander of the Baltic Freikorp unit known as the Eisen Division.
General Josef Bischoff was Generalmajor von der Goltz's 2nd in command and the commander of the Riga garrison.
Germans and Latvians of the Eisen Division and it's predecessor units the Eisen Brigade and Baltische Landeswehr.
Aircraft of the Eisen Division being unpacked and prepped for battle.
Notes:
1. Deutsches Heer is German for German Army
2. Jawohl is German for Yes Sir.
3. Kaiserliche Marine is German for German Navy
4. The Versailles treaty is the same as OTL for the most part. Here are the main differences:
- German possessions in Shandong are mostly transferred to China, except for a small Japanese concession on the coast. German officials would hand the territory over themselves, leading to better Sino-German relations down the road. German investments were another main part of their improving relations as secret German weapons factory were built in various cities in coastal China, which brought money and jobs to the area. German employers generally treated their Chinese employees fairly to improve productivity and attract more workers.
- The immediate occupation of the Ruhr Valley and the Rhineland by French and Belgian forces were supported by German communists, who made a deal with the French government. They would take over the administration of these lands following the withdrawal of French and Belgian forces. After the revelation of this deal in 1924 by the Nazi Party, communism became highly unpopular in Germany, as they were seen as traitors to the Vaterland.
- The scuttling of the fleet off Kiel is another main difference. ITTL the ships were scuttled for 2 main reasons. First, the German naval officers knew that the Hochseeflotte would be seized by the Entente as war prizes and they didn't want that to happen. Second, they feared that they had lost control over some of their crews after the Kiel mutiny and that communist sailors might seize the ship and pull an Aurora like what happened in the 1917 Russian Revolution or a Potemkin like the mutiny in 1905. The Entente would not bother with the salvage of these ships, as the war was over and all nations sought to reduce their military spending.These scuttled ships would be secretly salvaged by German corporations until 1923 and most of the steel was hidden away in covert warehouses, along with all the salvageable naval artillery. Salvage work was halted by the German financial collapse of 1923, but resumed after the ascendance of the Nazi Party. The excuse was that the scuttled ships were dismantled for scrap, though nation such as France and Belgium remained suspicious. America persuaded them to leave the issue, as they sought to placate a nation with a growing desire for revenge.
5) OTL the 2 units only merged after much later. Also, the Germans would probably pick up the Russian tachanka after seeing it in combat. Beats having to lug your Spandau by hand all the time.
6) Everything described here happened in OTL one way or another.
Link
7) These are OTL numbers as well, see the link in 6).
8) The snowball is getting bigger. And bigger. And it will get even bigger.
9) Cliffhanger, heh heh.
As usual comments, suggestions and questions are encouraged and welcome!
Until next time y'all!
-Black Dragon
EDIT: I've updated this chapter with lots of new stuff. Hope you like it! If there are any errors of any sort feel free to point them out.
-BlackDragon98
