The Anzali Operation was a naval and amphibious action carried by the Soviet Caspian Flotilla during the Russian Civil War. The target was the White Russian Caspian Flotilla interned at Anzali, Iran, which was under the custody of the British North Persian Force.
The Russian Civil War in Caspian Sea saw previous confrontation between the Soviet Russian Caspian Flotilla against the British Caspian Flotilla, the latter supporting the White movement as part of the Allied intervention. British/White Russians scored a victory during the Battle of Alexandrovsky Fort, but the harbor was reconquered in April 1920.[1]
After the disbandment of the British Caspian Flotilla and the withdrawal of their sucessor the White Caspian Flotilla to Anzali, Iran, a British military detachment had been in charge of the remainder ships,[2] that had all the breechblocks removed from their guns.[3]
Meanwhile in Moscow, Trotsky and Lenin concurred that a military strike against White die-hards and British forces entrenched on Persian territory would not only recovered the warships and military material formerly in hands of White general Anton Denikin and now under control of Britain, but also would be a blow to British power in northern Persia.[4]
The Soviet Russian Caspian Flotilla gathered a considerable force to attack Anzali. The task force was composed of four auxiliary cruisers (Proletariy, Rosa Luxemburg, Pushkin, Bela Kun), four destroyers (Karl Liebknecht, Delnyi, Deyatelnyi, Rastoropnyi), two gunboats (Kars and Ardagan) the transport Gretsiya and other minor units. Complete surprise was achieved, a naval shelling in early morning hit the main British headquarters as the first landing parties destroyed the telegraph lines[3] while, wave after wave, 2000 Bolshevik put a foot on the beach.[4] Subsequently, negotiators were sent by the British on a motor torpedo boat to agree on capitulation terms.[3][5] Gurkha troops attempted a counterattack, but were repelled by the Soviet bombardment, suffering two dead and five wounded.[5] Once Hugh Bateman-Champain, the British commander, accepted the Bolshevik terms, resistance from the 500-strong garrison stationed quickly collapsed.[3]
The Persian governor formally accepted the Soviet Russian presence, the British/White detachment capitulated and fled the city on ground while the entire flotilla was seized without resistance. Seized ships included: auxiliary cruisers President Kruger, America, Europe, Africa, Dmitry Donskoy, Asia, Slava, Mylutin, Opyt and Merkur, the motor-torpedo-boat carrier (previously seaplane carrier) Orlenok, the seaplane-carrier (previously m.t.b. carrier) Volga, six seaplanes, four British motor torpedo boats, ten merchants, a number of support, auxiliary and minor units in addition to large amount of supplies and ammunition.[5]
The Anzali Operation marked the ending of the Russian Civil War naval confrontation on Caspian Sea. [6] The action also established the short-lived Persian Socialist Soviet Republic, with little British resistance, while a detachment of 800 Cossacks surrendered to the Soviets and Persian communists or "Jangalis".[7]
The withdrawal of the British garrison, and the loss of the White fleet along with the earlier capture by Raskolnikov flotilla of the British naval mission at Baku, who had been in transit to Anzali to take charge of the maintenance of the warships, prompted a widespread reaction of the British Cabinet and the public opinion. On 21 May, the government decided the transfer of British troops from Persian soil to Iraq, Palestine and India. A number of political analysts at the time, among them Arnold Toynbee, denounced what they perceived as a decline of British influence on the Caucasus and Persia itself.[8]