Rüdiger von der Goltz Gustav Adolf Joachim Rüdiger , Graf von der Goltz ( December 8 , 1865 – November 4 , 1946 ) was a German Army general during World War I . After World War I he was the commander of the army of the Baltic German - established Government of Latvia , which played an instrumental role in the defeat of Russia n Bolsheviks and their local allies in Latvia ( 1919 ) but was eventually unsuccessful in retaining German control over the Baltic region after World War I . Biography . Von der Goltz was born in Züllichau , Brandenburg . A Major - General commanding the German infantry division of Guards on Foot in France , von der Goltz was transferred to Finland in March 1918 to help the nationalist government in the civil war against the Finnish " Reds " and Soviet Russian troops . He commanded the German expedition unit ( " Baltic Sea Division " ) which landed at Hanko , Finland , between April 3 - April 5 , 1918 , and then marched on the socialist - controlled capital Helsinki , which surrendered on April 13 , 1918 . The German military intervention aided the nationalist government of Finland to gain control over most of the country by May 1918 . After the November 11 , 1918 , armistice , the Inter - Allied Commission of Control insisted that the German troops remain in the Baltic states to prevent the region from being re - occupied by the Red Army . As many of the demoralised German soldiers were being withdrawn from Latvia , a Freikorps unit called the Iron Division ( " Eiserne Division " ) was formed and deployed in Riga and used to delay the Red advance . New volunteers arriving from Germany and remnants of the German 8th Army were subsequently added to the Iron Division , which was assigned under the command of von der Goltz . Also , Baltic Germans and some Latvians formed the " Baltische Landeswehr " , led by Major Alfred Fletcher . In late February 1919 , only the seaport of Liepāja remained in the hands of the German and Latvian forces . In March 1919 , General von der Goltz was able to win a series of victories over the Red Army , first occupying Ventspils , the major port of Courland , and then advancing south and east to retake Riga . After the Bolsheviks had been driven out from most of Latvia , the Allies ordered the German government to withdraw its troops from the Baltic region . However , the Germans succeeded in negotiating a postponement , arguing that this would have given the Bolsheviks a free hand . General von der Goltz then attempted to seize control of Latvia with the assistance of the local German population . The Latvian nationalist government was deposed while the Freikorps , Latvian and White Russian units moved on to capture Riga on May 23 , 1919 . The Latvian nationalists sought assistance from the Estonian army which had been occupying northern Latvia since earlier that year . In June 1919 , General von der Goltz ordered his troops not to advance east against the Red Army , as the Allies had been expecting , but north , against the Estonians . On June 19 , the Iron Division and " Landeswehr " units launched an attack to capture areas around Cēsis , but in the battles over the following few days , they were defeated by the 3rd Estonian Division ( led by Ernst Põdder ) . On the morning of June 23 , the Germans began a general retreat toward Riga . The Allies again insisted that the Germans withdraw their remaining troops from Latvia and intervened to impose a ceasefire between the Estonians and the Freikorps when the Estonians were about to march into Riga . The British insisted that General von der Goltz leave Latvia , and he turned his troops over to the West Russian Volunteer Army . Count von der Goltz later claimed in his memoirs that his major strategic goal in 1919 had been to launch a campaign in cooperation with the White Russian forces to overturn the Bolshevik regime by marching on St . Petersburg and to install a pro - German government in Russia . Goltz also led troops as part of the 1920 Kapp Putsch . In the interwar years he was part of the right wing Harzburg Front , and in 1934 and was leader of the largely politically uninfluential right wing German State Party . From 1924 to 1930 , he headed the German government department on the military education of young German youth . On 17 July 1931 he handed over the command of the Economic Policy Association Frankfurt am Main to the Reich President Paul von Hindenburg . He was married to Hannah Caroline von Hase ( 1873 – 1941 ) , a granddaughter of Karl von Hase . A son of the same name , Rüdiger von der Goltz , was a lawyer . He died in the Kinsegg estate , village of Bernbeuren , Germany .