When Speedboats Crippled the Russian Fleet - Raid on Kronstadt Documentary
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In the early hours of August 19th 1919, a handful of small British torpedo boats snuck into Kronstadt, the most heavily defended naval base in the world. They launched a daring attack on the Russian Baltic Fleet inside its own harbour, determined to cripple Bolshevik sea power and help to secure the independence of the Baltic States.
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0:00 - Intro
0:29 - The Russian Civil War and the Battle for the Baltic
2:23 - The exploits of Augustus Agar and his motor boat
5:32 - The Story of Charles Henry England (My Heritage)
7:15 - Cowan's bright idea
9:25 - The speedboats are coming from inside the harbour
13:40 - Counting the Cost
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Sources:
Steve R. Dunn, Battle In The Baltic
Damien Wright, Churchill’s Secret War with Lenin
Harry Ferguson, Operation Kronstadt
Erikson, Rolf (1974). "Letter to the Editor". Warship International. Toledo, OH: International Naval Research Organization
Angus Konstam, Warships in the Baltic Campaign 1918-20
Music Credits:
"Rynos Theme" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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"Crypto" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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"Stay the Course" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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Other music and SFX from Epidemic Sound
Go to bit.ly/Historigraph for a free 14 day trial and 50% off subscriptions with My Heritage Check out the raid on Kronstadt poster here: historigraph.creator-spring.com/listing/raid-on-kronstadt-1919
The videos on this channel have always been top tier but they're getting even better as time goes on. The last two videos, this and the Zeebrugge raid, have been different but just as good. Can't wait to see what videos come out in the near future! (Perhaps another collaboration with Drach?)
Any relation to Ensign John C. England (1920-1941)?
May Charles Henry England rest in peace.
That was a spectacular segway
I thought it was a bit disrespectful of a dead relative. He died to be used as a segue to an advertisement? Tasteless.
I should have known that the British would be responsible for that kind of trolling
🇺🇲🧐
Yeah they always fight dirty see sas executing civilians in Afghanistan for fun and entertainment,or funding this endless war with Russia
America did their part, fighting on behalf of the White Russians. No one in The States seems to remember.
The British really have a thing for pre-emptively attacking a fleet that's not openly hostile towards them yet. Not that I'm saying it's a bad strategy.
@@FDNY101202 🤣🤣
10:52 Dobson: We're going to fast! McBean: Single engine dorifuto time! CMB31: Deja Vu! I have been in this place before! Carrying the torps, and I know where they gotta go!
the bgm ended up being Running in the 90s. or running in the 19s perhaps.
GAS! GAS! GAS! We're gonna blow up their gas! FROM 9 TO 5 or maybe sooner!
The Japanese torpedo boats have come for the Baltic fleet once again
Legend has it, the faint flicker of a signal lamp was seen by some Bolsheviks from a ghostly ship outside Kronstadt that night. It kept repeating 'This is Kamchatka! We have spotted torpedo boats!" Sadly for the Bolsheviks, this time, the cry of wolf should not have been ignored.
Do you see torpedo boats?
Why oh why am I not surprised to see this here XD It's also hilarious that Drach's video is now used as a reference on the Kamchatka's wikipedia page.
Well Petropavlovsk is the capital city of Kamchatka, and a ship of that name was damaged or sunk in the raid, so there is a strong connection.
"And attack fishing trawlers? I'm not falling for that one again!"
(Escapes by changing course)
A certain Russian repair ship: I WARNED YOU ALL TORPEDO BOATS ARE DANGEROUS
If the _Kamchatka_ had been there more Russian ships would have suffered, just ask the _Aurora_ .
But these arent japanese torpedo boats, these are the vengefull spirits of the fishing boats
@@electrohalo8798 ready to send them to the great shvits in the sky
This is what happens when you don't bring enough binoculars
@@M167A1 also bringing on board every animal under the sun!
A family member of mine (who sadly died a year ago) worked on torpedo boats towards the end of World War 2. Those things are beasts
What do you mean by them being beasts?
Yeah it's sad that were now lossing the last connections to ww2. My Grampa died over Christmas, aged 99. He converted the floating tanks. We have a brilent photo of him with my brother's standing in front of one at the tank Musium bovington. Although he hated them as a friend died in one during a test float.
@@HouseholdDog small boats were very dangerous, despite being small, they were a threat for much bigger ships
@@HouseholdDog because of their small size, a raid with those ship during the night or stealth mission are really effective
@Abyssaljam Sadly that generation is very very small now. The WW2 generation is to today's kids as the WW1 generation was to people my age (born in '84). Sadly their numbers are small but that is the way of things. I remember meeting a few Great War vets when I was about 10 years old and they were all near 100. I'm glad I got the chance! It's also sad that we're losing that direct link to the WW2 generation and with that link lost there will be more people creating conspiracy theories and making fantastical claims about the war. Both of my grandfather's served in the Pacific. My maternal grandfather served in the Army Air Corps, mostly in Australia. My paternal grandfather was a surgeon and Major in the US Army and served in the campaigns to retake Burma in '44 and '45. He also ended up serving as a volunteer surgeon for the Red Cross in Saigon during the Vietnam War. He had the "luck" of getting there roughly a month before the Tet Offensive. Though for many people it ended up being good timing; he operated on civilians caught in the crossfire and there were many during the VC's attempt at an uprising in Saigon. Sadly that generation is slowly fading away but luckily we were able to know them and speak with them to pass on what they did and learned.
I have a recommendation - the uprising of the Kronstadt sailors against the new Soviet government in 1921, it is quite an interesting and unique battle
Then again, the Great War channal already talked about that at length.
It was not an Uprising. The Kronstadr sailors sent to Kremlin a list of 15 demands, amidst these were: Food, Ammunition, and Democratic rights. These were not traitors, or spies, these were old sailors, who attacked the Winter Palace in 1917. Then the demands for democratic freedoms was too much to Kremlin, and they sent soldiers to attack their comrades. The first line of soldiers were confused, "Why are we fighting our brothers?", then the Kremlin ordered the second line of soldiers to shoot in the backs of the first line. This is how the famous Soviet war strategy was born. Rumors have it, it was the idea of Pavel Dybenko, a coward, alcoholic, traitor. So, this event ended all the hopes for democracy in future "free" Ruzzia, and the dead sailors were labeled traitors by... Traitor Dybenko.
@@west_park7993 I don't think the word "uprising" is meant to automatically imply that the people enacting it are bad or extremely violent. I think of an uprising as being a rapid change in behavior among a significant number of people that involves some sort of conflict or significant disruption with the established power. In modern English "insurrection" "insurgency" "terror attack" "rebellion" "riot" "coup" "mutiny" "act of treason" are all related terms. The kindest related terms are "demonstration" "protest" "act of non-cooperation"
@@JWQweqOPDH Disagree: Uprising is confrontation, revolt, small revolution. The Kronstadt sailors did not REVOLT against Kremlin, they supported Lenin, they WERE bolsheviks! However, they were mistaken to think that Communism will bring freedom, democracy... Nope! The very idea of democracy was burned down on this event. All hopes of liberties and democracy and justice was destroyed. Well, in text books the Kronstadt was presented very short, vague, and presented as an act of REBELION and UPRISING, and the sailors were labeled spies, traitors, the usual. Pavel Dymenko, the coward-traitor sentenced and executed >1000 sailors in one single day! That's what cowards do.
Thankfully it was crushed
That sponsored section was actually really interesting and it’s cool how you have a personal connection to this event in history. Did you know about that connection prior to making the video or was it something you discovered while researching?
I knew of him and that he'd died in Russia before, but it was only though research for this video that I found out all the details
@@historigraph That had to be such a cool discovery
@@nissethepear4743 Sad too probably
@@nissethepear4743 if my great uncle had died in russia i would want to know how come it was sooner rather than later
@@historigraph Very cool. It’d certainly be a place I would want to visit after discovering all of these details. Have you put any thought into visiting the site?
I have never in my 60 year old life heard of these events! Incredibly brave British sailors that warrants a salute! Thank you for sharing this!
There is a reason why the British Navy today would crush the Chinese or Russian navy in warfare. Naval culture and tactics cannot just be raised by building boats.
Вас, англичане, никто к нам не звал! Когда-нибудь придёт ваша очередь смотреть на свои тонущие корабли! Лучше, дед, гордись ветеранами Второй мировой,а не этими пиратами.
@@user-pp9jz2zc3h Brave Russian troll, supporting the murdering, rapist Russian army in Ukraine, no doubt. Well you're getting your asses handed to you with close to a thousand dead every day. You suck at making war without the support from the west, like during WWII. You would have been speaking German today without the Lend-Lease deal with the west.
Read more Sir, UK and US were fighting in Russia until 1923. 👍 📚 #OurHistory
In a war of agression against the workers revolution?
This is excellent, thank you for focusing on a 'forgotten ' campaign in the Baltics. Well ,not forgotten by the Estonians- the close links between EST and the UK continue with the UK battlegroup in Estonia. Admiral Cowan is also remmebered in the Baltic Defence College, the principal NATO higher staff college in Tartu. The main hall is called the "Cowan Hall' and numerous photographs adorn the walls from Estonia's fight against tthe Bolsheviks. So Estonia has definitely not forgotten. And they continue to welcome the support of men like Cowan and Agar now more than ever before.
Lets not forget that the flagship of the Estonian Navy is also named after Admiral Cowan
Эстонию он вспомнил! А я тебе напомню про убийство сипаев в Индии, когда вы их к пушкам привязывали и расстреливали! Напомню про то, как вы половину Китая на опиум посадили! Напомню про то, как вы голодом морили Ирландию. Мне ещё продолжать, "демократ" и "борец за свободу"? А ещё ваш лекарь травил мышьяком нашего царя Ивана IV, ваши спецслужбы участвовали в убийстве Павла I и дали чертежи бомб для убийства Александра II. На вас, ублюдках, клеймо уже негде ставить.
Not forgotten in England #OurHistory
You think you've heard every naval battle going and then this happens!
Technically they were in a harbour so that's why you haven't heard of it ,')
@@derrickstorm6976 haha you got me
One of the speedboats that took part in this raid still exists. It is on display in Boathouse 4 in Portsmouth. The mechanism for releasing the torpedo over the stern is hair-raising just to look at.
Is this the one that was at Duxford?
11:03 Did anyone else hear "Running in the 90's" when Russel Mcbean made that awesome drift?
I loved the little running in the 90’s coming in when the torpedo boat drifted around to avoid crashing with the sinking ship
There is a plaque at the Estonian Maritime Museum right at the entrance to the Old Town in the middle of Tallinn commemorating these British actions. Really beautiful city!
Yes, I would very much like to visit one day
That's heart warming, thanks for your comment. #OurHistory 📚👍🙏🇬🇧
Very interesting! My great uncle was Lt Bill Bremner, and we are taking a close interest in the reproduction CMB being built at Boathouse 4 in Portsmouth dockyard. We are also hoping to meet up with Rodney Agar, Augustus' ?nephew? ?great nephew? It's a fabulous story, and one that deserves greater recognition. Incidentally, I always thought Bill's boat was 79A.
The Brits always throw one hell of a raid. Respect.
They love raiding
@@Yesirr44 + Boys own and Biggles. Respect to all involved.
What were they doing in Russia?
@@Head_Coach en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Kronstadt
@@TheFlutecart That doesn’t answer the question what right did they have to do such actions.
11:03 mandatory torpedo beats!
The really quiet Running in the 90s at 11:01 was so perfect. I had to replay that part just to know if my head played that song or if it was the video
The few muted second of "running in the 90's" as the torpedo boat steered clear of the submarine wreck was an excellent touch
What massively brave blokes. RIP
11:00 the barely audible music as the torpedo boat starts drifting lmao
1. I can't speak independently to the historical accuracy of this 'cast. 2. The presentation and language are precise, and a very detailed overview of the matter, without becoming lost in details. The narrative is compelling and believable. 3. Thank you very much for your work.
103 years later, history repeats itself.
If you visit Tallinn, make sure you visit the seaplane museum, the British built Lembit submarine is on display.
The very very suitable Drift music at 11:05 was a nice touch.
That tiny part of Running in the 90s playing had me laugh out loud. Super neat that you found a personal connection to this one!
Britain. The main character of crippling major power navies
The second wave whilst being unplanned was incredibly optimistic.
Me: "He should be promoted to Lt. Commander for that raid" Historigraph: ".. now Lt. Commander ..." Me: "Oh. Good."
I remember reading a book that described Admiral Cowan as "a ferocious dwarf who loved war so much he cried when the armistice was signed".
His knickname was " Tich "
You do amazing work, sir! Thank you for creating this account of an operation I have only seen vaguely mentioned.
But he too makes mistakes. The border between Russija and Latvija/Estonia is wrong. Eddit: and aparently he knows its wrong and just couldnt fix it with an apriopriate ammount of effort.
It's Speed boatin' time And RIP your great uncle
It's Morbin' Time
I'm really impressed with your work on this. Great detail & research with very clear maps & descriptions of the events.
I'm sure your great great uncle would be proud of you carrying on his forgotten legacy
I really think you should bring back a short intro piece and re-add theme music. It really helped to show that this channel is high quality and make it stand out in peoples' minds. I don't think an extra ten seconds or so is really going to scare viewers off. Love your work, this one is great as always :)
I agree! I love the old intro music!
There is a small mistake at 2:52 The towns name is written as Terijoki instead of Terrioki.
Finnish, a language like no other and incomprehensible to so many.
The British sources from the time that historigraph has been researching is probably using names that is translated directly from cyrillic russian.
@@MonkeyJedi99 In 1919, Terijoki was part of Finland. The USSR took it in their invasion of Finland in 1939-1940. "Joki" in Finnish means "river" in English.
Wow! This is the first I've ever heard of the ongoing conflict after WWI. Thank you for your clear and concise explanation of this raid!
Check it out, Allies fighting in Russia until 1923! #OurHistory
Fabulous account and visualisation. 👏👏👏Thank you so much and please keep them coming. 🙏
I always learn something new on this channel. Thank you for your hard work :)
Just finished your video on the American sub fleet in the Atlantic you made 8 months ago. Can’t believe I’m just now finding your channel but so pleased to have. Great content and amazing research.
Imagine the quality of those speedboats to hold those massive steel balls.
It's crazy yes..
was completely unaware of this raid, thank you very much for this video.
What an incredible story from a forgotten or unknown war
don't think I missed the muffled Eurobeat at 11:00!
Very interesting and overlooked topic. I knew of this battle but no details until you provided them. Thanks.
Thank you for helping to achieve our independence, you crazy brits! We haven't forgotten your part in that war.
You have got to love the British 🇬🇧
Quite right guv
Yeah, they keep telling people that they have unsinkable ships. Opps!
Fascinating, I had not heard of this before. Yet another excellent video as always
I really appreciate you adding subtitles!
Absolutely brilliant. As usual.
I had no idea this had taken place, thanks for the great video
Wow. Thats really amazing that you still could find all that info about your Great Great Uncle.
Absolutely love the smaller, lesser known stories like this one.
"yo buddy. Still alive?"
Crazy that stern launch TOWARD the launch vessel worked so well. Point blank at still ships no doubt was rather helpful. Somehow they developed this without the speedboat wake, (which had to be substantial) disrupting the torpedo's course.
Wow, this is the first time I heard of this engagement.
Very good animations - they really make the story come to life.
After numerous battles, I'm amazed at the courage of these officers and men. Jervis in particular. They sacrificed it all with no thought for themselves.
Terrific video thank you!
Lieutnant Bremner: blinded, surviving crossfire, his boat broken in half and then shot again and wounded several times: Still no surrender😅
Excellent account of a naval engagement previously unknown to me. Thank you very much.
Excellent work !! about a lesser known but spectacular battle. The personal connection brings the tale to life. I wonder who thought that launching torpedo's over the stern facing forward was EVER a good idea !!
This video is amazing. I love watching your content dude!
Great vid, as always ! The poster looks really good too
Thank you!
I have always wondered about those 'drop it off the stern"-launched torpedoes of World War I Motor Torpedo Boats. When did torpedo tech advance to allow "fire torpedoes ahead" operations?
It wasn't a tech issue it was a size issue, there's not room for torpedo tubes om speed boats
@@arjandosanj6131 The Italian Motor Torpedo Boat, "Mas-15" fired two 'forward-facing' torpedos @ the Austro-hungarian Battleship, SMS "Szent Istvan" [ "Tegetthoff-class" dreadnaught battleship, -4-triple, superfiring 12" main guns ] on June 10th, 1918, sinking it {--the torpedo area was only 5'.3" in width}. MAS-21 fired two @ the Tegetthoff, both of which missed
I think compressed air was used to launch torpedoes on later classes of torpedo boats.
that soundbite atvthe 11 minute mark is top tier
Very interesting story told in an interesting way.You have earned a like and sub!Look forward to watching more of your content.
I think that's one of the smoothest ad transitions I've ever seen.
Awesome stuff, I read a book on this a while ago. I never thought I'd see you cover it!
Well done! Superb!
Really great story telling. Many thanks.
Great video and an amazing battle
Very interesting. Didn’t know about this before now, cool stuff!
Excellent video!
The bombing run on the Death Star is cool and all but this is awesome
Great video, sorry for the loss experienced by your family
Hear hear.
Fantastic video!
I have never heared of this operation before. very informative
Really like these videos short to the point, while extremely detailed love it
Great narration. Thanks much.
Never heard of this action. Excellent graphics and narrative. Subd.
Very well done.
Brilliant. Thank you.
Great content UTV
Thank you 🙏 again for your EXCELLENT work 🙏👏👏👏 really Top Shelf I never heard of this event, thank you for the education
Lmao I just realized he subtilely put in “running in the 90’s” at 11:02
British secret missions in WWI and WWII be like: "I'll take a few men in some trucks and give them cricket bats, we'll drive directly into the largest most heavily defended fortress our enemies control, we'll do a few donuts out in front of the fortress to 'distract' them. Then, Jeremy "Jer-bear" Wombat Paullington III, who was a star cricket player before the war, who also speaks 7 languages and is openly gay, will position himself on top of the truck doing donuts, and wack a cricket ball through a window the enemy always leaves open at exactly 4:32-4:37 every day. The ball will bounce through the window bounce off the enemy Captain's large shiny forehead, and smack the 'Self-destruct' button on the console in the next room over." Then they actually do the attack, and a bunch of stuff doesn't go to plan, the trucks are replaced with bicycles, the cricket ball is replaced with a live grenade, the window which had been open every single day is closed for some reason, yet they still do donuts on bicycles, Jeremy Wombat Paullington III stands on the shoulders of his compatriot, smacking the live grenade through the closed window breaking it, and it misses the console. But the enemy captain hears the glass break, walks in, slips on the grenade (which of course happened to be a dud) and smacks his shiny ass forehead into the self-destruct button. The fortress blows up and Britain wins the day. Jeremy Wombat Paullington III ends up living to some rediculous age, like 114, and continues to do crazy insane bullshit his whole life. The enemy commander, despite slipping on a grenade, and presumably being in the fortress when it blew up, somehow survives and becomes best friends with Jeremy Wombat Paullington III after the war.
Now this what I call: Badass! Incredible daring.
First of all this is the best and most-accurate infographic video of the raid, however there are a couple of mistakes and things unsaid. First the boat that hit Pamyat Azova was CMB-79 not CMB-71. While Agar's lead boat was CMB-4 and not CMB-7. Bolshevik casualties are actually known from russian literature (1 KIA on Pamyat Azova, 1 KIA and 2 WIA). The video dismiss the earlier part of the campaign as some skirmishes but actually included some larger clashes with Bolsheviks losing 2 destroyers in December '18 and British one submarine in June '19 and the sinking of cruiser Oleg by CMB-4. The video doesn't mention how a key British goal was actually backing the White general Yudenich offensive toward Leningrad (having failed with it, British historiography simply stress the main goal was protecting their newly-independent allies). Further losses on both sides continued the following month with 1 British destroyer sunk by Bolshevik submarine and 1 by mine, while Bolsheviks lost 3 destroyers on mines. The actual culmination of the campaign was the involvment of British large monitor HMS Elbrus to attempt supporting Yudenich assault while the Baltic Fleet's survival despite "Raid on Kronstadt" meant their ships (especially the untouched Sevastopol) could properly shell the attacking White Army.
Happy to take criticism of the videos overall structure and omission of detail early on- it’s mostly a product of trying to get the video down to a manageable length and with focus on the videos topic. It’s odd that the details (like which boat hit sank which) you have are at odds with what I picked up from the sources I read for this video- though I’m not against thinking they may well have been inaccurate. Which are the key works for that info that you’ve read?
Shout yes. #OurHistory
Well this has earned a subscription. Brilliant
Another obscure but fascinating story from the inter-war period.
Hardly inter war when you check the number of Allied soldiers on Russian soil until 1923... 📚🙏
"Operation Kronstadt" by Harry Ferguson covers both the naval raids and the espionage sides of this period.
Love the video!
Probably the best sponsor segway I've ever seen!
fantastic video.
For some reason I just love the idea of someone's surname being McBean!
This should be a film. Probably do well considering the age we live in these days
maybe
That epic torpedo drift was marvelous lol
Thanks to made my day
Thanks!