7 kilometers north of Riga
June 18, 1927
The Soviets reacted quickly to the new Japanese threat, or as quickly as the military bureaucracy would allow. Berzarin was only a lowly Lieutenant General, though apparently he was slated to become a full Colonel-General, if not a Field Marshal, if the unofficial grapevine was to be believed. How the grape vine managed to reach all the way from STAVKA’s secret plans and schemes to southern Latvia, Berzarin did not know. But he did know that apparently he was to be the commander of the 1st Baltic Front. By sheer coincidence, that was actually what he was at the moment.
De facto, anyway, even if not yet
de jure, for the Japanese inroads into Estonia was quite embarrassing to the Soviet Union’s reputation both domestically and internationally, even more than its defeats in Manchuria were for those could be explained away through a variety of excuses.
The Japanese presence in Estonia could not be simply explained away. Well, it could, Berzarin knew: STAVKA was a rational entity, the Japanese Imperial General Staff apparently were
not. Berzarin, looking at the issue from his own limited viewpoint, could not understand what they were doing. Surely they must have been aware of Imperial Russia’s grand mistake in the war of 1904-1905 when it sent the Baltic Fleet all the way around the globe of the earth to sink in Tsushima Strait. Now, it seemed, the Japanese were repaying the favor by sending their fleet, or weak parts of it, to the Baltic to be sunk. Though at least they were having the success of landing troops and embarrassing the Soviet Union, which is something Imperial Russia had not been able to do. It had embarrassed no one but itself, and perhaps the Japanese, Berzarin had well in mind the stereotype of the polite Japanese samurai, embarrassed that he had won by lowly ambush.
This, of course, was a strategic ambush, an insane strategic ambush. Berzarin wondered whether insanity came with the notions and ambitions of imperialism. However, he soon turned his mind to the task at hand, reviewing the events of the past week so that he may write a condensed report for STAVKA. Early on the 13th, two days after the Japanese had managed their coup at Pärnu and Tallinn, the Japanese attacked Tartu. Their four infantry divisions, commanded by the aggressive Lieutenant General Ishiwara, quickly brushed aside the two motorized rifle divisions that comprised the reserve of one Baltic Front or another. The paperwork was so shoddy that Berzarin wasn’t actually sure to which Front they belonged. Nevertheless, they put up a small fight before being defeated and thrown back into Latvia. At the same time, Berzarin was ordered to take command of the entire 1st Baltic Front, of which previously he had only commanded the 21st Rifle Corps, which was amazingly at full strength at three divisions, much like most of the rest of the Front. Berzarin was actually unsure whether this was good or bad; he had more troops to throw at the Japanese, but that simply meant for work for his drastically overburdened staff.
The first battle for Tartu, the Japanese driving from Tallinn and Pärnu toward the interior of the SSR of Estonia.
Late the next day, Berzarin had arrived in Riga with the 1st Baltic Front, joining two motorized rifle divisions that constituted the current reserve of his Front. Biting his lip, Berzarin crinkled his brow before realizing that the motorized rifle divisions at Tartu must have belonged to the 2nd Baltic Front. He shrugged. Sighing, he shuffled his papers until he came upon the report of the battle that ensued after his arrival in Riga, as he pushed toward Pärnu against four divisions, commanded by the same Ishiwara that had assaulted Tartu. The outcome was, of course, not in much doubt. Four divisions of troops, no matter how insane or fanatical, could not resist more than four times their number, even if they were in actuality poorly led. The sheer crush of men advancing from one direction overwhelmed the Japanese defenses fairly quickly.
The greatly overcrowded battle for Pärnu.
At the same time, a Soviet division from the Leningrad Front had advanced back into Narva and been defeated by Japanese soldiers advancing from Tallinn commanded by a Major General Suzuki Shigeyasu. However, that one leaderless Soviet division managed to accomplish something quite unexpected, strangely amusing and honestly downright odd. The troops managed to capture a transport ship belonging to the 19 Yuso Sentai transport division, which was part of the 23. Kaigan, that was harboring in the mouth of the Narva River at the time, hiding from Kuznetsov’s fleet. Stalin made sure to announce the great victory, showing that he had a sense of humor, and greatly embarrassing the Japanese government in the process.
The captured Japanese transport, being commanded by a strange person who claimed to be a Soviet Frenchman, Claude Charmilles. The logs of the transport ship showed that its home base was in Ocha.
The transport was captured on the 16th, and it was essentially two days later that the campaign was decided. Both Pärnu and Tallinn had fallen, Narva had not been recaptured by the Japanese and while three divisions fled from Pärnu into surrender at Tallinn, one final Japanese division was trapped at Tartu under the command of a Major General Inagaki. It was trapped, out of supply and under attack by the two motorized rifle divisions of the reserve of the 1st Baltic Front. The Japanese were quickly defeated.
The second battle for Tartu. The campaign for Estonia began and ended at that town.
Berzarin rolled his head back and took a deep breath before expelling it out in a gusty, if a bit weary, sigh. The Estonian campaign was the first test of his operational skill, and he assumed that he passed it. Despite his slightly inelegant methods, he knew his staff was overworked and could not manage anything better and STAVKA wanted a quick victory. He gave them that, having effectively crushed the Japanese threat in Estonia in a week. Berzarin smiled, perhaps he would become a Field Marshal after all.