GERMANY’S BALTIC SCHEMES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160739, 27 August 1920, Page 8

GERMANY’S BALTIC SCHEMES.

The remarkable success of the Polish armies and the crushing defeat of the Bolshevik forces, particularly the overwhelming disaster to the Red northern armies and their German leaders and supporters/ will come as a rude shock to the latter, who entertained great hopes of building up a strong position on the Baltic, in defiance of the intentions and desires of the Allies . When the Germans were defeated and the armistice was signed large numbers of German War Lords and their mercenaries found their way to the Baltic provinces, where they settled down as an army of occupation, administering and holding down a conquered country, in which many of the inhabitants were their friendly kinsmen and willing supporters. The Allies at the time of the armistice endeavoured to make use of this army of occupation as a protection for Western Europe against the Bolsheviks, and did not stipulate for an immediate evacuation, as there were then no local forces considered capable of making head against Bolshevik aggression. The Germans, however, tried to utilise their presence, almost as the mandatories of the Allies in the Baltic States, to establish themselves politically and provide for a future to be directed by the local German-speaking Balts, the descendants of centuries of Gercan colonists along the Baltic shore, under German control and in German interests, whom the Esthonians dislike and mistrust.

In Esthonia (which Is separated from East Prussia 4 by Lithuania), where the hatred of all things German is very pronounced, the German attempt to establish a GermanoBalt political and commercial hegemony foundered on the rock of popular disapproval. The Germans, therefore, evacuated the country, removing everything for which they could find transport facilities, and doing all in their power to disarm and weaken the infant Esthonian State, which their withdrawal exposed, almost helpless, to the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks swarmed into the country, sending Russian, Lettish, and Chinese Red Guards to introduce Soviet rule. Disgusting, but well-authenticated, atrocities followed, and the Esthonians had to light desperately not only to stem the Red invasion, but also to prevent the Germans from carrying off their plunder. Finnish volunteers, folk of a kindred stock, came to the help of their Esthonian cousins, and Great Britain sent naval help and welcome arms and munitions. The Red invaders were ejected and the Esthonians were able to form a common front with the Letts against the Bolsheviks. During the past twelve months the Bolsheviks, by arrangement with the Germans, who supplied them with a number of regular troops, have made several fresjh attempts to overthrow the Esthonians, but without result. The latter have been assisted by the Allies, and have been unwilling witnesses of the march past to the southward of the Red Northern armies in their efforts to hem in Poland and capture Warsaw. Naturally the fresh turn affairs have taken —the crushing defeat and retreat of the Bolsheviks—will be enthusiastically welcomed in Esthonia, while there will be corresponding despondency on the part of the German element along the Baltic provinces who have been hoping and strenuously striving for union with the Fatherland.