ABSTRACT

As soon as the bulk of the Volunteers had arrived on the near bank and joined the small vanguard which had preceded it, the Whites prepared to penetrate farther into the town and complete the work of liberation. The moment the tide of battle had turned definitely in favour of the Whites, practically all the Bolsheviks entrenched on the river bank and in the houses along the quay had been seized by panic and vanished in the maze of winding streets of the Old Town. The town of Riga is laid out in such a way that a series of parallel streets cross it from west to east. An extremely picturesque, almost grandiose spectacle of flight was offered to the citizens of Riga. On foot, on horseback, in vehicles, the routed Muscovite army hurried at breakneck speed along the straight roads that led to the east and safety.