The raid on Kronstadt
In the summer of 1919, a Royal Navy Lieutenant led a daring raid on the Bolshevik fleet, as Mark Wood explains
In the summer of 1919, a Royal Navy Lieutenant led a daring raid on the Bolshevik fleet in Kronstadt harbour, as Mark Wood explains.
On the evening of 18 August 1919, a flotilla of Royal Navy Coastal Motorboats (CMBs) commanded by Lieutenant Augustine Willington Agar VC, sped towards the entrance of Kronstadt Harbour, on the island of Kotlin, some 20 nautical miles west of St Petersburg. The flotilla had been tasked with launching a night attack on the Bolshevik battleships Petropavlovsk and Andrei Pervozvanny, as part of the North Russia Relief Force’s strategic plan to protect the sea lanes through the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea.
The mission to launch a pre-emptive strike had been formulated at the headquarters of MI6 and was planned and carried out in the utmost secrecy. It was intended that the RN personnel involved would be transported to the Baltic under the cover of civilian salesmen, where they would implement a courier service between the coast of Finland and a British agent in Petrograd (later identified as MI6 operative Sir Paul Dukes, codenamed ST25). Agar and his team of three Sub-Lieutenants of the Royal Naval Reserve and two Chief Petty Officer motor mechanics were equipped with minimal military uniform, a white ensign and £1,000 in cash to cover necessary expenses.
Upon arrival in the Baltic, Agar reported to the commanding officer of the British squadron based at Bjorko in the Gulf of Finland, Admiral Sir Walter Cowan. He was briefed by Cowan that his mission was part of British strategy to prevent Soviet interference in the Baltic states, to confirm that Germany was observing the terms governing naval power included in the Versailles Treaty and to allow free access to Finland for British shipping. Soviet naval units based at Kronstadt were a source of anxiety to the Admiralty, presenting a potential threat to the operations of the Northern Russia Relief Force whose purpose was to cover the withdrawal of the multi-national anti-Bolshevik forces and support the guerilla campaign of White Russian troops against the Soviet regime. Admiral Cowan made provision of two Coastal Motorboats, with a single torpedo for each, appropriate stores for the operation and a network of Finnish and Estonian agents relayed intelligence information to the team.
The CMB was originally designed by Thornycroft, the company which would later go on to design and manufacture the Royal Navy’s iconic fast attack Motor Torpedo Boats of WWII. 30ft long and with a crew of just three, the CMB was a lightweight craft, with a shallow draft,
Agar pictured during WWII after promotion to Captain. He ended his career a Commodore having served throughout World War II
capable of speeds over 30 knots, powered by a petrol engine and armed with a single 18in torpedo.
A former Czarist army officer fighting for the Whites, codenamed Peter, suggested using the yachting centre of Terijoki, 13 miles north of Kronstadt, as a base from which to operate. Terijoki was ideally placed, the yacht club could be used to store equipment and the local church steeple provided a clear view over Kronstadt enabling Agar to track Soviet activity. To facilitate operation of the spy network in place, Agar was tasked with delivering Peter to Petrograd to make contact with ST25 by way of the Estonian coast. Despite his orders however, Agar was confident he could drop the Russian at the mouth of the River Neva, having negotiated his way through the chain of protective forts. This he successfully completed, taking the opportunity to engage in reconnaissance of the harbour approaches and defences and returned to collect Peter two nights later.
The Bolshevik naval base at Kronstadt presented a formidable challenge for the British flotilla. Protected by shore batteries of heavy naval guns, the base was ringed by a network of island fortresses similarly equipped and further secured by screens of minefields and a series of breakwaters only 3ft below the surface. The outer entrance to Petrograd was protected by two coastal forts, Ino to the north and Krasnaya Gorka on the south coast of the approaches.
Krasnaya Gorka, although in Soviet hands, was manned almost entirely by Estonian personnel and, mistakenly believing that a large force of white Russians was advancing on the former capital, they mutinied, slaughtering their Soviet officers and hoisted a white flag. Krasnaya Gorka was designed as an outer defence of the harbour and therefore all guns faced west, allowing the Red Navy to bombard the fort with impunity.
On the morning that Agar retrieved Peter from the mouth of the Neva, two Soviet warships opened fire on the Estonian-held fortress and, knowing that Cowan’s small task force lacked the fire power necessary to challenge the Russians, Agar requested permission to attack utilising the torpedoes of his CMBs. He requested that Cowan contact MI6 using the current RN signal cypher to which British intelligence replied that, as senior officer in situ, it was Cowan’s decision to make. Having given his consent, the Royal Navy team made preparations for the assault on the night of 13-14 June. They would make their attack in RN uniform, covered by overalls which they could remove in the
event of being captured, and the white ensign was flown from the stern of each vessel. The initial attack did not meet with success. During the high-speed approach, the second CMB hit a piece of wreckage in the water damaging the shaft of the propeller. Agar’s vessel towed the incapacitated vessel back to Terijoki and made the decision to make a solo attempt the following night. Having put a watch on Kronstadt, Agar was informed that the two Soviet ships had returned to harbour to re-supply and that the cruiser Oleg had taken up station in their place. In company with SubLieutenants Hampsheir and Beeley, Agar made for the Russian defences clearing the breakwater by only 3in. On reaching the destroyer screen providing cover for the Oleg Hampsheir attempted to remove the firing safety from the torpedo’s ignition cartridge but he accidentally fired. However, the torpedo failed to launch as it was held in place by a series of stops which prevented such accidents occurring. Beeley reloaded a fresh ignition cartridge and, still unseen by the Russians, the mission recommenced. At high speed the CMB penetrated the destroyer screen and released its torpedo at the Oleg, Agar later claiming that he aimed for the central one of three funnels. Banking to starboard, the vessel headed towards the Estonian coast under heavy fire in an effort to disguise the Finnish origin of the mission, while a thick column of black smoke belched from the stricken Oleg. The Finnish navy organised a military spotter plane for
Agar and he flew over the area observing the Oleg ‘lying on her side on the bottom of the sea and looking like an enormous dead whale’.
Unfortunately for the Estonian garrison of Krasnaya Gorka, Agar’s attack came too late, the breaches in the walls of the fort rendered further resistance futile and the men surrendered with assurances of their safety from Leon Trotsky, only to be executed on his orders shortly after.
Admiral Cowan informed Agar that he had recommended him for the award of the Victoria Cross, Hampsheir the Distinguished Service Order and Beeley the Distinguished Conduct Medal, while the Soviets offered a reward equivalent to £5,000 for his capture. Furthermore, Cowan had requisitioned aircraft and a further eight CMBs of the improved 55 type armed with dual torpedoes with the intention of making a concerted attack against the remaining Soviet naval units.
Early in the morning of 18 August the air units and seven CMBs, guided by Agar’s CMB4, set out on Operation
RK, their mission to sink the Gangut class dreadnought Petropavlovsk and the battleship Andrei Pervozvanny. Although disputed by the Soviet authorities, the Royal Navy claimed the Petropavlovsk had been damaged, and the Pervozvanny hit by a torpedo, settling 2ft down by the bow in the harbour, while the submarine tender Pamiat Azova was sunk. Although Agar had not participated directly in the assault on Kronstadt, he had guided the attacking force in and circled at the mouth of the harbour, ready to lend assistance should it be required. Two further VCs were awarded and Agar himself was decorated with the DSO. The mission was considered a success, losses being comparatively light with eight killed and a further nine taken prisoner.
But Agar was not finished yet. MI6, concerned at the possibility that Sir Paul Dukes had been unmasked by the Soviet Cheka and was being hunted, ordered Agar to retrieve the spy from the Russian coast. Having made the rendezvous point on time, there was no sign of Dukes and after an hour of tense waiting Agar decided to withdraw, but the return journey was to become hazardous in itself. After trying to start the motor without success, it became apparent that the compressed air bottle which functioned as a starter motor was leaking and there was barely enough to get the craft underway. With the engine restarted they began making headway into a developing squall and, despite the hull flooding with water, managed to make the safety of Finland.
In a second attempt to recover Dukes, they were located by harbour defences and held in the cross beams of two searchlights which tracked their progress towards Petrograd. Having disabled one searchlight using a Lewis gun, the boat was lifted out of the water by an exploding shell and, although damaged, the CMB continued onwards. The Soviets, convinced they had destroyed the vessel, made vociferous propaganda claims. Dukes, accepting them as fact, made his own way out of the city pursued by agents of the Cheka.
After a chase across the city which included moving from tram to tram to evade his pursuers, Duke, using several elaborate disguises, escaped through Latvia, finally reaching London with his haul of secret Soviet documentation intact. He was knighted for his services, the only person ever to be awarded this distinguished honour for espionage.
Agar himself went on to command ships of the New Zealand Division, the fledgling New Zealand Navy which was still an integral part of the Royal Navy, before taking command of the Royal Yacht at the personal request of King George V. Later in life he became the commanding officer of Greenwich Royal Naval College and continued to serve throughout World War II, including leading several secret operations against both the Kriegsmarine and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Agar passed away in December 1968 at the age of 78 in his adopted home of Alton in Hampshire. His Victoria Cross is on display at the
Collecting the medals
An award for service in Northern
Russia against the Bolsheviks was never considered due to the introduction of the Naval General Service Medal in
1915. The decoration had been created specifically to recognise active service in minor operations which did not merit a campaign medal.
The NGSM 1915, awarded to those RN officers and ratings who took part in the Kronstadt raids, featured a bust image of King George V in full military dress uniform to the obverse. The reverse was designed by the sculptor Margaret Winser. The composition depicts the figure of Britannia, mounted in a chariot drawn by two sea horses, her left hand atop a union shield.
The medal is silver and measures
1.4in in diameter, accompanied by a ribbon which is 1.3in across in crimson with three central white stripes. The NGSM was always awarded with the appropriate clasp and a Baltic award was contemplated by the Admiralty but later abandoned due to the expense. From 1920 onwards a bronze oak leaf signifying a mention in dispatches for a campaign was authorised.
The medal was withdrawn from use in 1962 and replaced by the General Service Medal.
Prices for RN medals continue to climb and the NGSM 1915 is valued between £300 and £550 plus, dependent upon condition, associated clasp, recipient and the circumstances of the award. The later George VI award is widely available at prices ranging from £150 to £300.
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