Commander of the West Russian Volunteer Army who led German Freikorps against Riga
Refusing Yudenich's order to join the Narva front, in October 1919 he proclaimed himself 'representative of Russian state power' and marched on Riga.
A Russian cavalry officer who styled himself 'Prince Avalov', he gathered tens of thousands of German Freikorps men who refused to leave Latvia into the West Russian Volunteer Army and attacked Riga in October 1919, only to be repelled. In exile he led a Russian fascist organization in Berlin and died in New York in 1973.
Activities and affiliations
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1919
Russian White movementCommander of the West Russian Volunteer ArmyMain
Military command
Career Timeline
- 1901Enlisted as kapellmeister in the 1st Argun Regiment
- 1904–1905Fought in the Russo-Japanese War; awarded the Cross of St George
- 1918Head of recruitment and counterintelligence, Southern Army, Kiev
- 1919.04Formed a volunteer detachment at the Salzvedel POW camp
- 1919.07Formed the Count Keller detachment at Mitava
- 1919.09Proclaimed himself CinC of the West Russian Volunteer Army; marched on Riga in October
- 1925Published memoirs 'In the Struggle against Bolshevism'
- 1933Founded the Russian National-Socialist Movement (ROND)
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionWest Russian Volunteer Army commander who attacked RigaAttacked Riga on 8 October 1919 with the West Russian Volunteer Army of German troops who had refused to leave, was repelled on 11 November and withdrew to Germany in December.
- 1918.11–1920.10Baltic wars of independence and border settlementsWest Russian Volunteer Army commander who attacked RigaAttacked Riga on 8 October 1919 with the West Russian Volunteer Army of German troops who had refused to leave, was repelled on 11 November and withdrew to Germany in December.
Revolution and independence wars
A cavalry officer of the Russian imperial army who styled himself 'Prince Avalov', claiming descent from a Georgian princely house. In 1919 he organized an anti-Bolshevik force from Russian prisoners in Germany, brought it to Latvia and absorbed tens of thousands of von der Goltz's German soldiers who refused the Allied demand to leave, forming the West Russian Volunteer Army. In October, while Yudenich was advancing on Petrograd, he refused the order to join the Northwestern Army and instead attacked Riga on 8 October, seizing the suburbs on the west bank of the Daugava. When the Latvian army counterattacked successfully on 11 November with the support of British and French warships and the Lithuanians defeated his troops at Radviliškis, he withdrew to Germany in December. In exile he led a Russian fascist organization in Berlin, was expelled from Nazi Germany in 1939 and went to the United States, where he died in New York in 1973. Sources disagree about his origins, so his country of origin is left blank.