of approximately 17,000 troops, with 53 guns and six tanks. The six tanks were supplied by Britain, together with their volunteer crews, who were the only British ground troops to fight alongside the Northwestern Army. In early October 1919, Yudenich launched his army against Petrograd, which was only lightly defended, as the Red Army was actively engaged on several other fronts in fighting Kolchak's forces in Siberia and several Cossack armies in the Ukraine. Yudenich's friend from the Imperial Russian Army, General Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, asked Finnish President Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg to join Yudenich's force and to attack Petrograd with help from the Finnish White Guards. Yudenich would have recognized Finland's independence, and the country's pro-Triple Entente relationships would be recognized. As Kolchak, nominally the leader of the White Armies, would not recognize Finland's independence, Stålhberg denied Mannerheim's request. Overall, the Northwestern Army was nationalistic and patriotic and thus rejected ethnic particularism and separatism. The Northwestern Army generally believed in a united multinational Russia and opposed separatists wanting to create nation-states. On 12 October 1919, the Whites retook Yamburg. Two days later, Yudenich was approaching Gatchina. On 19 October 1919 his troops reached the outskirts of Petrograd, but his forces failed to secure the vital Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway, which allowed the Revolutionary Military Council to send in massive reinforcements to prevent the fall of the city. Yudenich's stalled offensive collapsed in late October, and the 7th and the 15th Red Armies repulsed the White Russian troops back into Estonia in November. Distrustful of the White Russians, the Estonian High Command disarmed and interned the remains of Northwestern Army, which retreated behind Estonian lines. Politically, the Bolsheviks secured a separate armistice with Estonia on 3 January by promising to recognize Estonian independence, an offer contrary to the White Army's and the Kolchak government's position. On 28 January 1920, General Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz, together with several Russian officers and the Estonian Police, arrested Yudenich as he tried to escape to Western Europe. Yudenich was later released from prison. Later life After his release, Yudenich departed for exile in France. During his remaining 13 years, he played no significant role among White émigré community there. Yudenich died at Saint-Laurent-du-Var, near Nice, on the French Riviera, on 5 October 1933. Honors Order of St. Stanislaus 3rd degree, 1889 Order of St. Anne 3rd degree 1893 Order of St. Stanislaus 2nd degree 1895