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Pov of Rear Admiral Walter Cowan
24-29 November-1919
''The reputation of that German warlord depends entirely on his military presence in the capital. That criminal is using the hostages he keeps in his power as an instrument of pressure, but if we manage to force him to flee Riga, his entire regime will not take long to collapse. For many Germans, that man remains a hero, no matter how stained he is by his war crimes. The German press has not stopped feeding his legend. Once their leader loses his main center of power, everything will fall with him'' Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel du Parquet said, explaining the importance of attacking Riga.
''We must not underestimate the Devil of Masuria. If even half of what the German press has published is true, and our intelligence reports on him are correct, we are facing an extraordinarily competent man, capable besides of inspiring respect and loyalty among his men. Attacking Riga would mean entering directly into a bitter battle that would cost many lives'' Lieutenant General Sir Hubert Gough said, visibly worried by the direction our conversations had taken.
''Precisely for that reason, we must strike quickly. He is supposedly inside Riga. We should subject the city to a complete bombardment. A concentrated barrage from the guns of all our ships, maintained for several hours, would leave the city in ruins and kill a good part of his men'' Captain Jean-Joseph Brisson said, repeatedly striking Riga's position on the map with his finger.
''Have you lost your mind?'' I said, raising my voice. ''Our mission is to liberate the States created and recognized through the signing of the Treaty of The Hague and, if possible, restore their governments through negotiation. We cannot reduce their cities to rubble and then ask them to rebuild administrations favorable to us. They would end up hating us far more than the German warlord who has taken prisoner every man we sent to assume power. The intention is to leave behind allied States, not hostile States'' I added in a grave voice, drawing the attention of the whole group.
''Germany does not allow us to transport troops through its territory, so we must risk undertaking a dangerous naval operation. Why does your government not insist with the same firmness as ours that Germany join this expedition directly?'' Jean-Joseph Brisson asked, crossing his arms.
''Germany has complied with most of what has been demanded of it. It has declared all the men serving under Karl's orders traitors, placed a price on their heads, stripped them of their military honors and expropriated the properties some of them still kept on German territory. However, the German government fears that, if it sends soldiers to help us, they may change sides. As has already been said, that war criminal enjoys enormous popularity among German soldiers and veterans. The last thing we need is for a division sent to reinforce us to end up turning its weapons against us'' I said, looking sternly at the French officer, who continued insisting on adopting extreme measures.
''And why can we not use the German railways to move our troops? That way we would avoid having to undertake an offensive by sea'' Emmanuel du Parquet asked with apparent calm, although without seeming any less insistent.
''Would you allow German troops to cross France by train, with the possibility of diverting toward Paris or Bordeaux?'' I asked, raising an eyebrow while observing the French officers.
Silence was the answer I was looking for. It was evident that the French government had spent weeks doing everything possible to blame Germany for the rebellion of the German officer. Paris demanded a revision of the Treaty of The Hague, greater compensation, the cancellation of the Alsace-Lorraine plebiscite and the immediate annexation of those territories to France.
The French were the most aggressive in the face of everything that had happened, although clearly they lacked the necessary means to sustain that aggressiveness.
France had only committed one division to the mission, while we had assigned two with the intention of forming a true expeditionary army. Karl had entrenched himself in the east and we knew he preserved enormous influence in Ukraine because of his former posts as minister of Agriculture and minister of Security.
Therefore, expelling him from the Baltic would be only the beginning. Afterward, we would have to advance to Ukraine to liberate the Habsburg king, who remained confined under guard. It was there that we expected to find the hardest resistance from Karl's forces.
The situation was made even more complicated by the attitude of the Ottoman Empire. Its government, which continued to be hostile toward us, had rejected our request to cross the Dardanelles Strait. Diplomats had been sent to try to convince them, but the Ottomans were trading for Ukrainian grain because of the severe food shortages they were suffering.
As long as Ukrainian wheat continued arriving at Ottoman ports, the straits would remain closed to our fleet. They would only change their minds if our diplomats managed to offer them something more valuable than the food provided by Karl.
''Excuse the interruption, Rear Admiral. The ships we sent to reconnoiter the coast and examine the city's defenses have returned. Their reports indicate that everything remains calm and that no kind of naval defense has been observed. Therefore, it is presumed that the rebel Germans do not intend to defend the coastal cities. Apparently, we will be able to carry out the landings without encountering too much resistance and establish contact with the local inhabitants'' Andrew Browne said, who had just entered our small meeting.
''Very well, if there is no naval defense capable of endangering our force, we should immediately begin preparations to land in Riga. Its port is the most appropriate for carrying out a large-scale landing. We must begin mobilizing our men and prepare to march toward Ukraine, where we will probably find the true German resistance'' I said, pleased by the news that, apparently, the Germans had given up defending the coast.
''Rear Admiral, I very much doubt Karl von Posen would waste the opportunity to make us bleed. We must be more careful before bringing our fleet so close to the coast. The Germans would not let the chance pass to sink our ships or attack us while we land in their ports'' Sir Hubert Gough said, looking worried.
''What more information do you need? That criminal does not have enough men to defend all the territories he occupies. He only has his division of loyalists, which at most will have about twenty thousand soldiers. Once we land, we will establish contact with the local inhabitants, arm them with the rifles we have brought and liberate the country. Then we will advance toward Ruthenia and, finally, toward Ukraine, where we will put an end to all this at once'' I said, noticing the doubts of the officer who was supposed to lead the men on land.
''He is surely entrenched in Ukraine. He must have believed his actions would have no consequences, and now he must be abandoning the Baltic to hide among the shadows, as men of his kind tend to do'' Jean-Joseph Brisson said with obvious impatience.
''Sir Hubert, prepare your men to land. We will bring some destroyers closer to provide support if you need it. However, if you consider the port too dangerous, you may coordinate landings at other points along the coast. Even so, we should take advantage of the fact that Riga seems open and ready to be taken'' I said, looking at the commander of the land operation.
''Very well…'' Sir Hubert replied after adopting an unfriendly expression, before leaving our meeting.
While preparations for the landing continued, we kept frequently sending small reconnaissance boats to observe the beaches and the approaches to the port. However, none of them found anything. The Germans seemed to have completely disappeared from the area.
Because of that, we began preparing to lift the blockade once the landing was complete. According to the information provided by our intelligence services, that was to be expected, considering that the German rebel had very few men to protect all his conquests.
Long hours of preparation passed. The transport ships began readying the troops, checking the boats and preparing everything necessary to put to sea.
Once it was confirmed that the army was ready to launch the first landing waves, we ordered several vessels to advance toward the coast to observe the terrain and provide support in case any resistance appeared.
Under the cover of the smaller vessels, the land forces began sailing toward the coast in small wooden boats driven by oars. Hundreds of them were lowered into the water from the transports.
Once they confirmed that the port of Riga was safe, the large transport ships would enter the city directly to disembark the rest of the army, its vehicles and its supplies.
After that, my work in the operation should be practically finished.
From my cruiser, I watched as the troops dispersed across the entire area, trying to land in several places at the same time.
Several minutes passed until we finally saw that the boats had reached their destinations and that numerous soldiers were beginning to enter Riga.
''That criminal may be very competent on land, but at sea there is nothing he can do against us'' I said, looking at my French counterpart, who nodded at my words.
''Rear Admiral, a telegram has arrived from the front. Fighting is taking place inside Riga and, apparently, there are also heavy clashes on the coast'' one of my officers reported, approaching with a sheet freshly received by telegraph.
''It was to be expected that we would find some resistance. Some casualties are inevitable in an operation of this magnitude. Surely it is a matter of some stragglers who still have not…'' I was saying when one of the ships located near Riga began to burn after a loud explosion echoed over the waters.
''Communicate immediately with the vanguard ships. I need to know what has happened. Find out whether it was an internal failure or whether they are under attack'' I ordered, while watching as the destroyer burned and suffered new explosions.
Several minutes passed without us knowing what was happening. Then we saw another destroyer begin to burn.
''Lieutenant General Sir Hubert Gough reports that he has no news from the vanguard that entered Riga. He has also received no answer from the men sent toward the coast. However, he confirms that they are firing from the city against our ships. The Germans are attacking the fleet from Riga'' the officer explained, bringing another telegraphic message with him.
''Damn it. Did the Germans entrench themselves inside the city?'' I asked in disbelief, shaking my head.
''Order the ships to withdraw. We cannot bombard the city. It would go against our orders'' I said with frustration, while searching for a pair of binoculars.
''What do we do now? Apparently, the German did not abandon his city'' Jean-Joseph Brisson asked, visibly annoyed by the situation.
''He intends to resist in Riga. We will have to find another port to land in or some beach where we can establish a bridgehead'' I replied through my teeth.
The landing had been suspended, but the entire vanguard that had already reached land was trapped. Apparently, the troops had entered the city with the intention of reaching the Riga Parliament. From that moment on, we had heard nothing from them.
We had lost visual contact with the soldiers and only knew that numerous shots had been fired. Shortly afterward, explosive shells began falling on the ships located near the port.
HMS Verulam and HMS Vittoria had been sunk. Both were destroyers, and another vessel of the same class had received several hits that had opened holes in its hull.
Apparently, the Germans were using some kind of cannon hidden inside the city.
We were forced to search for new landing zones as quickly as possible. The fleet began to disperse to reconnoiter other points of the coast from which we could attack the forces concentrated in Riga.
We examined Reval, Libau and Windau, but every group that tried to land encountered German resistance. On several occasions, the defenders also tried to sink our ships using cannons installed inside the cities.
When we finally sent reconnaissance planes, they discovered several German camps distributed throughout the region. Their troops seemed to have prepared specifically to repel landings.
That demonstrated that taking any of the coastal cities would be much more difficult than expected. We would have to give up on the ports and search for open beaches where we could establish a bridgehead.
While we studied that extensive Baltic coast to find the most suitable place, even worse news began to arrive.
The Germans also had planes.
A large formation had attacked the light cruiser HMS Cassandra. They had not hit it once or twice. They had torpedoed it repeatedly, launching dozens of projectiles until they sank it.
One of the destroyers escorting the cruiser had also been sunk. Three other destroyers had been badly damaged, while three additional ships had suffered damage of varying severity.
And, to make the situation even worse, Lieutenant General Sir Hubert Gough would not stop reminding me that he had warned me we had to take the German commander seriously.
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