WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.859 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. We have an incredibly 00:00:03.859 --> 00:00:05.940 intense stack of sources today. Totally, really 00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:08.599 do. And I am just thrilled to have you here with 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:12.560 us to explore it. Whenever we sit down to sift 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:14.460 through these things, you know, historical encyclopedia 00:00:14.460 --> 00:00:17.660 entries, naval records, raw casualty logs, I'm 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:19.920 always hunting for that one narrative that completely 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.620 reframes how we understand a specific moment 00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:25.800 in time. Right. And today we have a story that 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:29.359 frankly feels like it belongs in a tense, claustrophobic, 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.600 historical thriller rather than just tucked away 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:35.439 in the footnotes of the early 20th century. We 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:37.380 are plunging into the British naval campaign 00:00:37.380 --> 00:00:41.659 in the Baltic from 1918 to 1919, officially codenamed 00:00:41.659 --> 00:00:44.880 Operation Red Trek. It's a massive geopolitical 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:46.420 clash that happens right on the heels of the 00:00:46.420 --> 00:00:49.119 First World War. And our objective today is to 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:52.119 take this mountain of military data and extract 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:54.460 the most fascinating, chaotic, and significant 00:00:54.460 --> 00:00:57.079 nuggets for you. It's a period that is almost 00:00:57.079 --> 00:00:59.560 universally overshadowed by the global conflicts 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:01.920 that bookend it. Absolutely. But the sheer complexity 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:04.480 of what happened in those freezing waters shaped 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:07.239 modern borders. I want you to just imagine the 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:09.480 psychological whiplash of this scenario for a 00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:12.519 second. Put yourself in the boots of an everyday 00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:17.480 sailor in late 1918. You have survived the unimaginable 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:20.239 meat grinder of the First World War. The armistice 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:22.739 is signed. You're finally breathing that sigh 00:01:22.739 --> 00:01:25.040 of relief, thinking you're heading home to your 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:27.760 family. But you aren't. No. Instead of a victory 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:31.180 parade, you receive new orders. You are immediately 00:01:31.180 --> 00:01:34.340 deployed into the unpredictable ice -choked waters 00:01:34.340 --> 00:01:37.439 of the Baltic Sea to fight in a completely confusing, 00:01:37.780 --> 00:01:41.069 multi -sided civil war. It is a staggering demand 00:01:41.069 --> 00:01:43.609 to place on a human being, transitioning from 00:01:43.609 --> 00:01:46.549 the sudden relief of survival directly into an 00:01:46.549 --> 00:01:49.549 entirely new theater of war. A freezing one at 00:01:49.549 --> 00:01:51.250 that. Right. One characterized by some of the 00:01:51.250 --> 00:01:53.689 most unforgiving maritime conditions on Earth. 00:01:54.109 --> 00:01:56.310 It requires a level of endurance that is hard 00:01:56.310 --> 00:01:58.969 to fully comprehend today. OK, let's unpack this. 00:01:59.069 --> 00:02:01.530 Because to understand how a British fleet ends 00:02:01.530 --> 00:02:03.829 up dodging ice flows in the Baltic right after 00:02:03.829 --> 00:02:06.989 a global war, we have to look at the sheer scale 00:02:06.989 --> 00:02:09.210 of the power vacuum left behind in the region. 00:02:09.370 --> 00:02:11.930 Let us establish the board as it look in November 00:02:11.930 --> 00:02:15.569 1918. The Russian Empire has essentially collapsed, 00:02:15.650 --> 00:02:18.550 and that collapse has created a massive, highly 00:02:18.550 --> 00:02:21.069 volatile void in the Baltic region. Just a total 00:02:21.069 --> 00:02:24.490 free -for -all. Exactly. The formal German military 00:02:24.490 --> 00:02:26.930 occupation of the Baltic countries has ended, 00:02:27.069 --> 00:02:29.669 but the dust is nowhere near settled. You have 00:02:29.669 --> 00:02:32.889 a dizzying array of factions stepping into that 00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:36.310 void, all vying for control. Right. The Bolshevik 00:02:36.310 --> 00:02:39.770 Red Army is pushing outward. Meanwhile, white 00:02:39.770 --> 00:02:41.849 Russian forces are mobilizing to reclaim the 00:02:41.849 --> 00:02:45.490 territory. You still have rogue German paramilitary 00:02:45.490 --> 00:02:48.289 units known as the Freikorps operating aggressively 00:02:48.289 --> 00:02:50.810 in the area. It's just chaos. And right in the 00:02:50.810 --> 00:02:53.150 center of the storm, you have the newly forming 00:02:53.150 --> 00:02:55.810 national armies of Estonia and Latvia desperately 00:02:55.810 --> 00:02:58.250 trying to establish and defend their newfound 00:02:58.250 --> 00:03:00.849 independence. Before we go any further into the 00:03:00.849 --> 00:03:03.069 specific actions of these factions, I want to 00:03:03.069 --> 00:03:05.009 make something very clear to you, the listener. 00:03:05.129 --> 00:03:07.770 Yes, this is crucial. The sources we are analyzing 00:03:07.770 --> 00:03:10.389 today contain records of highly politically charged 00:03:10.389 --> 00:03:13.129 events involving the Bolsheviks, the White Russians, 00:03:13.189 --> 00:03:16.330 and various other factions. We want to state 00:03:16.330 --> 00:03:19.490 unequivocally that this deep dive is strictly 00:03:19.490 --> 00:03:22.870 impartial. We are not taking any side. Exactly. 00:03:23.030 --> 00:03:25.629 We are not taking any side or endorsing any of 00:03:25.629 --> 00:03:28.030 the viewpoints of the groups involved. Our role 00:03:28.030 --> 00:03:30.919 today... is solely to report the historical record 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:33.620 provided in the sources and help you understand 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:35.780 the mechanics and the human cost of this specific 00:03:35.780 --> 00:03:38.800 campaign. That is a critical baseline for our 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:41.719 analysis today. So into this incredibly volatile 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:45.500 environment sails the British Royal Navy. We 00:03:45.500 --> 00:03:48.039 see Rear Admiral Edwin Alexander Sinclair arriving 00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:50.139 on the scene to take command. And he does not 00:03:50.139 --> 00:03:52.219 arrive quietly. No, he doesn't. He sails in with 00:03:52.219 --> 00:03:54.580 a squadron of C -class cruisers, which were these 00:03:54.580 --> 00:03:57.819 very modern, incredibly fast light cruisers designed 00:03:57.819 --> 00:04:00.099 for the rough conditions of the North Sea, along 00:04:00.099 --> 00:04:02.580 with a complement of destroyers. And he makes 00:04:02.580 --> 00:04:04.550 quite the statement. Almost immediately upon 00:04:04.550 --> 00:04:07.330 arrival, Sinclair issues this incredibly bold 00:04:07.330 --> 00:04:10.469 directive. He publicly promises to attack the 00:04:10.469 --> 00:04:13.569 Bolsheviks, quote, as far as my guns can reach. 00:04:13.849 --> 00:04:17.269 That is quite the cinematic entrance. But it 00:04:17.269 --> 00:04:20.290 begs a massive question. Why is the British military 00:04:20.290 --> 00:04:23.129 establishment authorizing a promise like that? 00:04:23.230 --> 00:04:26.889 Why commit valuable, cutting -edge ships and 00:04:26.889 --> 00:04:29.850 utterly exhausted crews to a localized civil 00:04:29.850 --> 00:04:32.779 war thousands of miles from home? right after 00:04:32.779 --> 00:04:35.100 World War One. What's fascinating here is the 00:04:35.100 --> 00:04:37.959 layered motivation driving the war cabinet in 00:04:37.959 --> 00:04:40.959 London. The actual goals of Operation Red Trek 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:44.319 were highly strategic and multifaceted. OK. Yes. 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:46.540 A primary objective was to stop the spread and 00:04:46.540 --> 00:04:49.060 rise of Bolshevism in the region. But they were 00:04:49.060 --> 00:04:51.920 also deployed specifically to support the fragile, 00:04:52.139 --> 00:04:55.100 newly independent countries of Estonia and Latvia. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:57.259 So it's about drawing lines on a map. Essentially. 00:04:57.360 --> 00:04:59.660 If we connect this to the bigger picture, it 00:04:59.660 --> 00:05:02.100 was fundamentally about protecting broader British 00:05:02.100 --> 00:05:04.560 imperial interests and ensuring the freedom of 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:07.240 the seas in a critical trade quarter. They needed 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:09.500 a stable Bolshevism. And they were willing to 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:11.759 project naval power to force that stability. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:13.779 But that projection of power came with a very 00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:16.639 swift, devastating reality check. It did. The 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:19.759 armistice was in November 1918. Just weeks later, 00:05:19.899 --> 00:05:22.639 on the night of December 4th, the British cruiser 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:25.639 HMS Cassandra is on patrol duties north of Liposha. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:28.899 She strikes a German -laid mine. It's just tragic. 00:05:29.259 --> 00:05:31.699 The ship goes down, and 11 crew members lose 00:05:31.699 --> 00:05:34.720 their lives. These were 11 people who had survived 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:37.290 the Great War. only to be killed weeks after 00:05:37.290 --> 00:05:40.529 the global conflict supposedly ended. It grounds 00:05:40.529 --> 00:05:43.350 the strategic posturing in a very grim reality. 00:05:43.670 --> 00:05:47.149 The sinking of the Cassandra underscores a terrifying 00:05:47.149 --> 00:05:50.170 truth about this theater. The environment itself 00:05:50.170 --> 00:05:53.259 was relentlessly lethal. The mines scattered 00:05:53.259 --> 00:05:55.600 across the Baltic did not know that a peace treaty 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:58.579 had been signed in France. Wow. Yeah, that's 00:05:58.579 --> 00:06:00.560 a chilling way to put it. And the political situation 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:03.139 on land was just as treacherous as the waters. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:05.420 Let's talk about that political situation, because 00:06:05.420 --> 00:06:07.579 the newly formed governments in the region were 00:06:07.579 --> 00:06:10.399 operating in a state of absolute panic. I was 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:12.199 reading through the diplomatic exchanges and 00:06:12.199 --> 00:06:14.319 our sources, and there's this detail about the 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:16.620 Estonian prime minister that really stopped me 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:19.399 in my tracks. The protectorate request. Yes, 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:22.259 he was facing the advancing Bolshevik forces, 00:06:22.459 --> 00:06:25.980 and his position was so tenuous that he was literally 00:06:25.980 --> 00:06:29.980 begging Britain to send ground troops. When they 00:06:29.980 --> 00:06:32.699 hesitated, he went so far as to request that 00:06:32.699 --> 00:06:35.699 Estonia be formally declared a British protectorate. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.279 That is a remarkable historical detail. Think 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:41.079 about the implications of that request. You have 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:44.019 a newly formed nation tasting independence for 00:06:44.019 --> 00:06:46.480 the first time, and their leadership is willing 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:49.060 to immediately surrender their sovereignty to 00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:52.220 a foreign empire just to guarantee their physical 00:06:52.220 --> 00:06:55.199 survival against an advancing army. It speaks 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:57.879 volumes about the sheer terror of the Bolshevik 00:06:57.879 --> 00:07:00.079 advance. How did London respond to that kind 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.060 of desperate plea? With a very firm boundary. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:04.839 The war cabinet had made a definitive ruling. 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:07.339 They would send a substantial naval force to 00:07:07.339 --> 00:07:09.540 provide offshore support, but they would absolutely 00:07:09.540 --> 00:07:11.939 not commit British boots on the ground. Which 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:14.360 makes sense. Deploying ground troops into a Russian 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.019 civil war was simply a bridge too far for a British 00:07:17.019 --> 00:07:19.300 public that had just endured four years of trench 00:07:19.300 --> 00:07:22.240 warfare. So they denied the troops, but they 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:24.480 did offer the full weight of their naval artillery. 00:07:25.100 --> 00:07:27.759 The Royal Navy ships sailed right up the coast. 00:07:28.189 --> 00:07:30.769 close to the Estonian -Russian border, and laid 00:07:30.769 --> 00:07:34.029 down devastating barrages on the Bolshevik supply 00:07:34.029 --> 00:07:36.490 lines. And they were effective. Very. And the 00:07:36.490 --> 00:07:39.790 instability wasn't isolated to Estonia. The records 00:07:39.790 --> 00:07:41.870 show that the situation in neighboring Latvia 00:07:41.870 --> 00:07:44.629 became so dire that the Latvian prime minister, 00:07:44.870 --> 00:07:47.569 Carlos Omanis, was actually forced to flee his 00:07:47.569 --> 00:07:50.730 own capital. Yes, the Saratov incident. He ended 00:07:50.730 --> 00:07:52.889 up hiding on board a ship called the Saratov, 00:07:52.910 --> 00:07:54.629 which was anchored under the direct protection 00:07:54.629 --> 00:07:56.980 of British naval guns. When a nation's prime 00:07:56.980 --> 00:07:59.079 minister is forced to govern from the deck of 00:07:59.079 --> 00:08:01.519 a ship because the mainland is entirely hostile, 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:04.480 you begin to understand just how fragile these 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:06.720 new Baltic states were. Completely. The British 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:08.399 Navy wasn't just supporting these governments. 00:08:08.660 --> 00:08:10.939 In some cases, they were literally serving as 00:08:10.939 --> 00:08:12.920 their physical shield. Which brings us to the 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:15.519 actual engagements at sea. Because they weren't 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:18.079 just bombarding shorelines, there were direct 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:22.120 ship -to -ship clashes. On December 26th, British 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:25.620 warships engage and capture two Bolshevik destroyers. 00:08:25.930 --> 00:08:29.310 Yes, the Avtroyal and the Spartak. What makes 00:08:29.310 --> 00:08:31.750 this engagement particularly dramatic is the 00:08:31.750 --> 00:08:34.570 context. Right. They were busy. The British didn't 00:08:34.570 --> 00:08:37.850 just stumble upon them. They captured these destroyers 00:08:37.850 --> 00:08:40.470 while the Bolshevik ships were actively shelling 00:08:40.470 --> 00:08:43.190 the port of Tallinn. And the sources show the 00:08:43.190 --> 00:08:45.590 British took those captured ships and immediately 00:08:45.590 --> 00:08:47.669 handed them over to the Estonian provisional 00:08:47.669 --> 00:08:50.570 government. Talk about a field promotion. Seriously. 00:08:50.789 --> 00:08:53.129 They renamed them the Lenik and the Vambola. 00:08:53.470 --> 00:08:56.370 And those two vessels literally formed the nucleus 00:08:56.370 --> 00:09:00.029 of the very first Estonian Navy. It is a brilliant 00:09:00.029 --> 00:09:02.549 tactical move. You remove two threats from the 00:09:02.549 --> 00:09:05.049 board and instantly create an allied naval force 00:09:05.049 --> 00:09:07.529 in one stroke. It is highly effective. And the 00:09:07.529 --> 00:09:09.889 capture of the Spartak yielded another significant 00:09:09.889 --> 00:09:12.850 prize. The British captured the newly appointed 00:09:12.850 --> 00:09:16.220 Commissar of the Baltic Fleet. Fedor Raskolnikov, 00:09:16.340 --> 00:09:18.220 who happened to be on board during the engagement. 00:09:18.419 --> 00:09:21.000 Oh, wow. So a high value target. Very high value. 00:09:21.179 --> 00:09:23.500 They held him prisoner until May of the following 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:25.899 year, eventually exchanging him for 17 British 00:09:25.899 --> 00:09:28.320 officers who had been captured by Soviet forces. 00:09:28.860 --> 00:09:31.860 It is high stakes hostage diplomacy playing out 00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:34.100 on the high seas. While the British are executing 00:09:34.100 --> 00:09:38.039 these clean tactical victories at sea. The environment 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:41.299 on land remains incredibly brutal, doesn't it? 00:09:41.320 --> 00:09:43.600 It does, and we must confront the darker realities 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:46.200 detailed in our sources to maintain a balanced 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:49.080 historical picture. This was a vicious civil 00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:51.480 war. Yeah, we have to talk about Nisar. Right. 00:09:51.559 --> 00:09:53.860 For instance, the records note that in February 00:09:53.860 --> 00:09:58.080 1919, the Estonian government executed 40 Bolshevik 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:01.049 prisoners of war on an island called Nisar. 40 00:10:01.049 --> 00:10:03.889 prisoners. Yes. And they carried out these executions 00:10:03.889 --> 00:10:06.990 despite direct forceful protests from the British 00:10:06.990 --> 00:10:09.809 Naval Command. It serves as a stark reminder 00:10:09.809 --> 00:10:11.889 that while the British were providing the military 00:10:11.889 --> 00:10:14.190 umbrella, they did not have ultimate control 00:10:14.190 --> 00:10:16.470 over the internal vengeance or the operational 00:10:16.470 --> 00:10:18.970 ethics of the localized factions they were backing. 00:10:19.190 --> 00:10:22.029 That volatility sets the stage for a major shift 00:10:22.029 --> 00:10:25.750 in British strategy. Early in 1919, command of 00:10:25.750 --> 00:10:28.210 the British force passes to Rear Admiral Walter 00:10:28.210 --> 00:10:31.629 Cowan. And Cowan decides it is time to escalate 00:10:31.629 --> 00:10:33.570 the pressure. He wants to choke them out. He 00:10:33.570 --> 00:10:36.009 shifts the Royal Navy's focus toward establishing 00:10:36.009 --> 00:10:39.690 a direct blockade, aiming to bottle up the Red 00:10:39.690 --> 00:10:42.129 Fleet right in their home base at Kronstadt. 00:10:42.649 --> 00:10:45.429 Kronstadt is essentially the gatekeeper to Petrograd, 00:10:45.529 --> 00:10:47.929 which is modern -day St. Petersburg. It is a 00:10:47.929 --> 00:10:50.649 heavily fortified island fortress. So it's tough 00:10:50.649 --> 00:10:53.559 to crack. Very. By bottling the Soviet forces 00:10:53.559 --> 00:10:56.279 up inside that harbor, Cowan is attempting to 00:10:56.279 --> 00:10:58.240 entirely neutralize their ability to project 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:01.000 power across the broader Baltic. But the Soviet 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:03.480 fleet wasn't entirely dormant. There is an intense 00:11:03.480 --> 00:11:07.720 clash detailed on May 31st. A flotilla of British 00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:10.759 destroyers is attempting to lure out an outgunned 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:13.299 Bolshevik destroyer. A classic bait tactic. Right. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:15.940 But during this maneuver, the Soviet battleship 00:11:15.940 --> 00:11:18.960 Petropavlovsk opens fire. And according to the 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:21.139 logs, this battleship scores two direct hits 00:11:21.139 --> 00:11:23.919 on the British destroyer HMS Walker from a distance 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:27.039 of 14 ,000 yards. To contextualize that distance 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:29.879 for you, 14 ,000 yards is roughly eight miles. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:32.259 Eight miles. Hitting a fast -moving, relatively 00:11:32.259 --> 00:11:34.639 small destroyer at that range, utilizing the 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:36.759 optical rangefinders and fire control technology 00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:39.940 of 1919 while firing from a pitching deck is 00:11:39.940 --> 00:11:42.419 an extraordinary feat of naval gunnery. It's 00:11:42.419 --> 00:11:44.820 incredible. It proved to Admiral Cowan that while 00:11:44.820 --> 00:11:46.860 the Russian Baltic fleet was depleted and trapped, 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:49.139 its heavy dreadnoughts were still incredibly 00:11:49.139 --> 00:11:51.740 lethal. The walker takes damage, two crewmen 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:54.220 are wounded, and the British are forced to retreat. 00:11:54.649 --> 00:11:56.809 when they drift too close to the coastal artillery. 00:11:57.269 --> 00:11:59.750 It becomes glaringly obvious to Callan that his 00:11:59.750 --> 00:12:02.190 current blockade distance isn't effective. It's 00:12:02.190 --> 00:12:04.129 too far out. Yeah, he needs a forward operating 00:12:04.129 --> 00:12:07.110 base closer to Kronstadt. So he moves his naval 00:12:07.110 --> 00:12:10.330 units to a new anchorage at Bjorka Sound. But 00:12:10.330 --> 00:12:12.789 closing the distance just invites new tragedies. 00:12:12.830 --> 00:12:15.750 It does. On June 9th, Soviet destroyers launch 00:12:15.750 --> 00:12:18.639 a retaliatory raid on this new location. In the 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:21.860 resulting chaos, the British submarine HMS L55 00:12:21.860 --> 00:12:26.000 is forced into an enemy minefield and sunk. Every 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:28.879 single soul on board perishes. The loss of the 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:31.440 L55 forces the British into a defensive posture. 00:12:31.779 --> 00:12:34.279 They have to frantically lay their own minefields 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:36.860 just to protect their new anchorage. The campaign 00:12:36.860 --> 00:12:39.340 is rapidly devolving into a stagnant, highly 00:12:39.340 --> 00:12:42.019 lethal stalemate of attrition. Here's where it 00:12:42.019 --> 00:12:44.870 gets really interesting. Because the British 00:12:44.870 --> 00:12:47.230 decide to break that stalemate with a tactic 00:12:47.230 --> 00:12:50.629 that sounds completely unhinged. Enter Lieutenant 00:12:50.629 --> 00:12:54.210 Augustus Agar and his flotilla of coastal motorboats, 00:12:54.230 --> 00:12:57.409 or CMBs. This is such a wild part of the history. 00:12:57.730 --> 00:13:00.090 When I was reading about these CMBs, I was expecting 00:13:00.090 --> 00:13:03.669 some sort of heavily armored, specialized warship. 00:13:04.049 --> 00:13:06.669 What exactly were these things? They were quite 00:13:06.669 --> 00:13:09.169 the opposite of heavily armored. Coastal motorboats 00:13:09.169 --> 00:13:12.480 were essentially... 40 -foot, extremely fast 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:15.379 wooden speedboats armed with torpedoes. Wooden 00:13:15.379 --> 00:13:18.200 speedboats? Yes. The tactical concept was that 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:20.620 their high speed and incredibly shallow draft 00:13:20.620 --> 00:13:23.360 would allow them to literally skip right over 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:25.980 the tops of the submerged minefields that would 00:13:25.980 --> 00:13:28.240 instantly destroy a traditional steel warship. 00:13:28.340 --> 00:13:30.299 That is insane. They could dash into a heavily 00:13:30.299 --> 00:13:32.379 defended enemy harbor, deploy their payload, 00:13:32.580 --> 00:13:35.000 and use their speed to escape before the coastal 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.340 guns could accurately track them. It is absolute 00:13:37.340 --> 00:13:40.289 madness. Yeah. You're putting men... in a wooden 00:13:40.289 --> 00:13:42.470 speedboat, driving them over active mines in 00:13:42.470 --> 00:13:45.049 the dead of night and pointing them at dreadnoughts. 00:13:45.149 --> 00:13:47.649 But against all odds, they actually execute the 00:13:47.649 --> 00:13:51.629 plan. They do. In June, Agar and his CMB flotilla 00:13:51.629 --> 00:13:54.870 raid Kronstadt Harbor and managed to sink the 00:13:54.870 --> 00:13:58.070 Soviet cruiser Oleg. Later that summer, they 00:13:58.070 --> 00:14:01.230 return and sink the submarine depot ship Pamyatazova. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:04.460 It is a remarkable display of asymmetrical warfare. 00:14:04.820 --> 00:14:07.320 However, as we analyze the historical records 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:10.179 regarding these specific CMB raids, we encounter 00:14:10.179 --> 00:14:13.200 a fascinating discrepancy that highlights how 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.860 history is often contested by opposing sides. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:18.279 Okay, what's the discrepancy? The British official 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:20.620 records claim that during these daring raids, 00:14:20.820 --> 00:14:23.580 their motorboats also severely damaged two massive 00:14:23.580 --> 00:14:26.539 Soviet battleships, the Petropavlovsk and the 00:14:26.539 --> 00:14:29.590 Andrey Provolzvany. Yet when historians examine 00:14:29.590 --> 00:14:31.990 the Soviet records from the exact same period, 00:14:32.250 --> 00:14:34.409 the Soviets completely dismissed the claim that 00:14:34.409 --> 00:14:36.830 the Petropavlovsk was ever damaged by the British 00:14:36.830 --> 00:14:39.029 boats. When you have two primary sources directly 00:14:39.029 --> 00:14:41.029 contradicting each other on something as massive 00:14:41.029 --> 00:14:43.669 as a damaged dreadnought, how do historians actually 00:14:43.669 --> 00:14:46.519 reconcile that? Often they look for corroborating 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:49.159 evidence like repair yard logs or subsequent 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:52.279 ship movements. In the fog of war, a massive 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:54.779 explosion near a hull can look like a direct 00:14:54.779 --> 00:14:58.220 hit to an escaping CMB pilot, while the defending 00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:00.779 ship might record it as a near miss. That makes 00:15:00.779 --> 00:15:03.700 a lot of sense. But regardless of the exact tonnage 00:15:03.700 --> 00:15:06.559 damaged, what is not in dispute is the terrible 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:10.039 human cost of these operations. The second CMB 00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:13.220 raid effectively ended the immediate sortie threat 00:15:13.220 --> 00:15:16.519 from the Kronstadt fleet, but the price was devastating. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:19.799 Yeah, it was steep. Three of these wooden motorboats 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:22.950 were obliterated. Six British officers and nine 00:15:22.950 --> 00:15:25.190 readings, which is the naval term for enlisted 00:15:25.190 --> 00:15:28.129 sailors, lost their lives. Nine more men were 00:15:28.129 --> 00:15:30.129 pulled from the water and taken prisoner. They 00:15:30.129 --> 00:15:32.389 achieved the strategic objective of neutralizing 00:15:32.389 --> 00:15:34.990 the harbor, but the human sacrifice was immense. 00:15:35.330 --> 00:15:37.789 And what is so frustrating about this campaign 00:15:37.789 --> 00:15:40.710 is that while these high stakes heroic actions 00:15:40.710 --> 00:15:43.090 are happening at sea, the larger geopolitical 00:15:43.090 --> 00:15:45.399 goal on land is completely falling apart. Correct. 00:15:45.539 --> 00:15:48.360 In the autumn of 1919, the British naval forces 00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:51.559 shift to providing massive offshore gunfire support 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:54.080 for a major ground offensive. This is Yudinich. 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:57.360 Yes, the White Russian Northwestern Army, commanded 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:00.159 by General Nikolai Yudinich. They are making 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.860 a massive concentrated push to finally capture 00:16:03.860 --> 00:16:06.559 Petrograd from the Bolsheviks. I was looking 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:08.379 through the records of that White Army push, 00:16:08.580 --> 00:16:11.100 and the British brought in a ship called the 00:16:11.100 --> 00:16:14.000 HMS Erebus, which is classified in the sources 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:16.879 as... a monitor, what role does a monitor play 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:19.679 in a land defensive? Think of a monitor as essentially 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:22.899 a floating, shallow draft gun platform designed 00:16:22.899 --> 00:16:26.000 specifically for coastal bombardment. The Erebus 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.980 was packing massive 15 -inch guns, the kind of 00:16:28.980 --> 00:16:31.379 artillery usually reserved for the largest battleships. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:34.200 They parked it off the coast and used it to systematically 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:36.960 pound the Bolshevik coastal fortresses to clear 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:39.440 a path for Yudinich's advancing army. Amidst 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:41.639 this massive bombardment, the sources detail 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:45.120 a deeply tragic and ironic event. Three Soviet 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.320 destroyers, the Gavril... The Constantine and 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:50.679 the Svoboda attempt to navigate out of the war 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:53.320 zone. Why were they moving during such a heavy 00:16:53.320 --> 00:16:55.419 offensive? They weren't moving to attack. They 00:16:55.419 --> 00:16:57.919 were actually attempting to flee the Soviet fleet 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:00.740 and defect to the Estonians. But in the pitch 00:17:00.740 --> 00:17:03.059 black of the Baltic night, while trying to escape 00:17:03.059 --> 00:17:05.900 the conflict entirely, all three of these defecting 00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:08.400 ships accidentally sailed straight into a freshly 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:11.460 laid British minefield. And they sank. They sank 00:17:11.460 --> 00:17:14.319 with massive loss of life. It is a moment that 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:16.839 perfectly encapsulates the lethal, unpredictable 00:17:16.839 --> 00:17:20.240 confusion of this entire campaign. You have ships 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:22.700 destroyed by the very forces they are attempting 00:17:22.700 --> 00:17:25.240 to surrender to. And ultimately, despite the 00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:28.420 massive 15 -inch guns of the Erebus and the total 00:17:28.420 --> 00:17:31.500 naval blockade, General Udenich's white army 00:17:31.500 --> 00:17:34.319 offensive completely collapses. They fail to 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:36.700 take Petrograd and are forced into a brutal... 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:39.279 disorganized retreat. The whole offensive crumbles. 00:17:39.339 --> 00:17:42.039 And it is right around this time in late 1919 00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:44.480 that you really start to see the human breaking 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:46.940 point for the British naval forces. We have to 00:17:46.940 --> 00:17:49.180 deeply consider the psychological toll this campaign 00:17:49.180 --> 00:17:51.759 was extracting from the British sailors. The 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:54.359 naval records explicitly detail that significant 00:17:54.359 --> 00:17:57.420 unrest began to boil over, culminating in actual 00:17:57.420 --> 00:18:00.140 mutinies across several ships. Really? Most notably 00:18:00.140 --> 00:18:03.380 the HMS Vindictive and the HMS Deli. It is wild 00:18:03.380 --> 00:18:05.579 to wrap your head around the idea of a highly 00:18:05.579 --> 00:18:08.990 disciplined Royal Navy crew. Fresh off the victory 00:18:08.990 --> 00:18:12.230 of World War I, choosing to mutiny against their 00:18:12.230 --> 00:18:15.089 own officers. But when you look at the environmental 00:18:15.089 --> 00:18:18.369 and psychological factors at play, it makes perfect 00:18:18.369 --> 00:18:21.390 painful sense. It is the result of a catastrophic 00:18:21.390 --> 00:18:25.430 compounding of miseries. First and foremost is 00:18:25.430 --> 00:18:29.150 profound war weariness. Many of these crews were 00:18:29.150 --> 00:18:32.269 combat veterans who had just survived four grueling 00:18:32.269 --> 00:18:34.509 years of global slaughter. They thought they 00:18:34.509 --> 00:18:37.210 were done. They were promised peace, and instead 00:18:37.210 --> 00:18:39.650 they were handed a freezing civil war. Add to 00:18:39.650 --> 00:18:42.450 that the logistical failures, poor quality food, 00:18:42.769 --> 00:18:45.670 freezing onboard accommodations, an absolute 00:18:45.670 --> 00:18:48.809 lack of shore leave to decompress, and the reportedly 00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:51.890 harsh, unsympathetic discipline enforced by Admiral 00:18:51.890 --> 00:18:54.210 Cowan. It's a powder keg. Furthermore, these 00:18:54.210 --> 00:18:56.250 exhausted sailors were constantly being subjected 00:18:56.250 --> 00:18:58.769 to highly targeted, effective Bolshevik propaganda. 00:18:59.230 --> 00:19:01.710 The Soviets were broadcasting messages urging 00:19:01.710 --> 00:19:03.910 the British working class sailors to stop fighting 00:19:03.910 --> 00:19:08.609 a capital... You put a freezing, starving, exhausted 00:19:08.609 --> 00:19:12.109 man on a steel ship, lock in the ice, tell him 00:19:12.109 --> 00:19:14.750 he cannot go home, and then blast him with radio 00:19:14.750 --> 00:19:17.450 messages telling him his officers are the real 00:19:17.450 --> 00:19:20.210 enemy. It is a perfect recipe for a systemic 00:19:20.210 --> 00:19:22.690 breakdown. Absolutely. And speaking of the ice, 00:19:22.829 --> 00:19:26.390 there is one last incredibly tragic detail from 00:19:26.390 --> 00:19:28.849 the sources that perfectly illustrates how the 00:19:28.849 --> 00:19:31.910 Baltic environment itself was an enemy. Because 00:19:31.910 --> 00:19:34.190 the British were facing these mutinies and stretching 00:19:34.190 --> 00:19:37.089 their active forces thin, Admiral Cowan asked 00:19:37.089 --> 00:19:39.529 the Finnish Navy to allocate a squadron of ships 00:19:39.529 --> 00:19:42.309 to help protect the anchorage at Bjorka. The 00:19:42.309 --> 00:19:44.990 Finnish command agreed to the request. They dispatched 00:19:44.990 --> 00:19:47.470 a helpful squadron of gunboats, torpedo boats, 00:19:47.650 --> 00:19:49.990 and motor mine sweepers to assist the British 00:19:49.990 --> 00:19:52.309 defensive perimeter. But because Admiral Cowan 00:19:52.309 --> 00:19:54.390 requested that the Finnish squadron remain on 00:19:54.390 --> 00:19:56.630 station late into the season, right up until 00:19:56.630 --> 00:19:58.450 the British were finally ready to evacuate the 00:19:58.450 --> 00:20:00.990 area, they stayed just a few weeks too long. 00:20:01.130 --> 00:20:03.500 The weather turned. The fierce Baltic winter 00:20:03.500 --> 00:20:06.839 arrived with devastating speed. The sea completely 00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:10.079 froze over around them, and the expanding, crushing 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:12.720 pressure of the winter ice literally crushed 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:15.859 the hulls of three Finnish C -class torpedo boats, 00:20:15.980 --> 00:20:17.700 sinking them right there in the frozen harbor. 00:20:17.880 --> 00:20:20.220 It is a visceral, terrifying reminder that in 00:20:20.220 --> 00:20:23.200 the Baltic theater, the environment is an active, 00:20:23.299 --> 00:20:26.400 belligerent force. You aren't just strategizing 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:29.400 against enemy fleets, you are fighting the shifting 00:20:29.400 --> 00:20:32.369 sea and the crushing cold. So if we look at the 00:20:32.369 --> 00:20:34.970 ledger at the end of 1919, we have failed land 00:20:34.970 --> 00:20:37.589 offensives, sunken ships from mines, catastrophic 00:20:37.589 --> 00:20:40.509 mutinies, and allied vessels crushed by ice. 00:20:40.690 --> 00:20:42.789 It's a bleak picture. It sounds on paper like 00:20:42.789 --> 00:20:45.910 a total unmitigated disaster. When the dust finally 00:20:45.910 --> 00:20:48.490 settles on Operation Red Trek, what did it actually 00:20:48.490 --> 00:20:50.930 achieve? Historically, it leaves a very mixed 00:20:50.930 --> 00:20:53.910 legacy. From a strictly military standpoint regarding 00:20:53.910 --> 00:20:56.190 the containment of the Bolsheviks, it resulted 00:20:56.190 --> 00:20:58.829 in a muddy Anglo -Soviet military stalemate. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:01.200 As we discussed, the White Army failed to take 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.220 Petrograd and the Bolsheviks maintained their 00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:06.079 solid grip on Russia. However, the British mission 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:09.240 undeniably achieved its other primary, highly 00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:12.309 consequential goal. By holding the line at sea, 00:21:12.470 --> 00:21:14.829 neutralizing the Soviet fleet, and providing 00:21:14.829 --> 00:21:17.829 crucial offshore artillery support, they gave 00:21:17.829 --> 00:21:20.589 Estonia and Latvia the vital breathing room they 00:21:20.589 --> 00:21:23.109 needed to survive their infancy. That's massive. 00:21:23.309 --> 00:21:26.329 This direct intervention led to the 1920 Peace 00:21:26.329 --> 00:21:29.809 Treaty of Tartu, where Bolshevist Russia formally 00:21:29.809 --> 00:21:33.509 recognized Estonian independence. That sovereign 00:21:33.509 --> 00:21:35.950 recognition simply would not have materialized 00:21:35.950 --> 00:21:38.210 without the Royal Navy's violent interjection. 00:21:38.269 --> 00:21:40.970 It is amazing how Actions that feel incredibly 00:21:40.970 --> 00:21:43.910 chaotic and reactive in the moment end up permanently 00:21:43.910 --> 00:21:46.890 shaping the map of the world. And there's a fantastic 00:21:46.890 --> 00:21:49.089 visual fact from the source material that proves 00:21:49.089 --> 00:21:51.630 just how lasting that British impact was. Ah, 00:21:51.750 --> 00:21:54.829 the flags. Yes. If you look at the design of 00:21:54.829 --> 00:21:57.009 the naval jacks, the flags flown at the bow of 00:21:57.009 --> 00:22:00.109 warships for both Estonia and Latvia today, their 00:22:00.109 --> 00:22:02.250 designs were actually heavily inspired by the 00:22:02.250 --> 00:22:04.880 geometry of the British Union Jack. Wow. It is 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:07.259 a literal lasting legacy of this exact campaign 00:22:07.259 --> 00:22:09.519 flying on the bows of modern ships right now. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:12.339 It is a physical, enduring symbol of a shared 00:22:12.339 --> 00:22:15.339 history that was forged in a very dark, very 00:22:15.339 --> 00:22:17.779 cold and very desperate time. So what does this 00:22:17.779 --> 00:22:20.059 all mean? For you listening, I think this deep 00:22:20.059 --> 00:22:22.559 dive shows that even the most quote -unquote 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:25.859 forgotten operations, the ones that happened 00:22:25.859 --> 00:22:28.259 in the long, messy shadows of major world wars, 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:31.579 are filled with incredible nuance, massive human 00:22:31.579 --> 00:22:34.339 sacrifice, and consequences that dictate international 00:22:34.339 --> 00:22:37.400 borders for a century. Exactly. The sailors on 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:40.119 the Cassandra or the L -55 weren't just footnotes. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:42.759 Their actions in those freezing waters meant 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:45.019 everything to the people whose independence they 00:22:45.019 --> 00:22:47.829 secured. It forces us to look past the grand 00:22:47.829 --> 00:22:50.890 sweeping strategies drafted in London and look 00:22:50.890 --> 00:22:53.170 closely at the brutal realities of execution 00:22:53.170 --> 00:22:56.049 on the ground, or in this case, on the water. 00:22:56.170 --> 00:22:58.049 And it leaves me with a lingering thought that 00:22:58.049 --> 00:23:00.670 I think is worth exploring long after this discussion 00:23:00.670 --> 00:23:03.289 ends. Let's hear it. If a global naval superpower 00:23:03.289 --> 00:23:06.289 can sail into a chaotic power vacuum, effectively 00:23:06.289 --> 00:23:09.230 blockade an enemy dreadnought fleet, and help 00:23:09.230 --> 00:23:11.450 dictate the permanent borders of newly independent 00:23:11.450 --> 00:23:15.009 nations, yet simultaneously face outright mutiny 00:23:15.009 --> 00:23:19.009 from its own exhausted, war -weary sailors, where 00:23:19.009 --> 00:23:21.710 does the true power of a military actually lie? 00:23:22.089 --> 00:23:24.930 Is it in the advanced technology of the 15 -inch 00:23:24.930 --> 00:23:27.430 guns and the daring coastal motorboats? Or does 00:23:27.430 --> 00:23:29.789 it ultimately rest entirely on the fragile morale 00:23:29.789 --> 00:23:32.319 of the everyday sailor? shivering in the freezing 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:34.380 ice, deciding whether or not they are willing 00:23:34.380 --> 00:23:36.539 to follow orders just one more time. That is 00:23:36.539 --> 00:23:38.279 exactly the kind of question we'd love to leave 00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:40.059 you with. Thank you so much for joining us today, 00:23:40.140 --> 00:23:42.140 and we will see you next time as we dive into 00:23:42.140 --> 00:23:44.319 another incredible stack of sources. Keep learning, 00:23:44.460 --> 00:23:45.720 keep questioning, and take care.