operation: deep scouting towards the Neman River. On February 12 that goal was updated to include the Bug river. On that day Jukums Vācietis ordered the new Western Command to carry out a "reconnaissance in-depth" as far as Tilsit, Brest-Litovsk, Kowel and Rivne. He also ordered the securing of main railway junctions, including those in Vilna, Lida, Baranowicze and Luninets. Among the aims of the Bolsheviks was to drive through eastern and central Europe and support the Revolutions in Germany and Austria-Hungary. The Bolshevik forces did not anticipate serious opposition on the way and saw the states of Poland, Belarus and Lithuania as mere ephemerides, unable to defend their own "temporary" borders. However, it is unlikely that the Soviets really expected to reach the Vistula. The military orders were full of propaganda. The main goal of the operation was likely to see how much territory could be opportunistically grabbed in the chaotic governmental flux caused by the aftereffects of postwar Eastern Europe before any serious independent governing authorities arose. Finally, the first Polish-Soviet clashes happened in mid-February, in the area of the towns of Bereza Kartuska and Mosty, where both armies clashed in a series of skirmishes. The Soviet offensive came to a halt by late February and it became apparent that the Red Army would not break through the Polish lines by half-hearted attacks. Both the Soviet offensive and the Polish counterattack started at the same time, which resulted in an increasing number of troops being brought to the area. In April the Bolsheviks captured Grodno and Vilna, but were soon pushed out by the Polish counteroffensive. Romanian direction In early 1918, Bessarabia, a former Russian province, united with Romania after two months of independence as the Moldavian Democratic Republic. The Soviet did not accept the union and tried to retake the region by force. However, it all amounted to several sporadic attacks along the Dniester River. The Russians also attacked to support Communist Hungary, which had its own war with Romania. That was to no avail, as the region was successfully defended against Bolshevik attacks. Aftermath The Estonian and the Polish Armies proved to be far more capable opponents than the Red Army had assumed. The Pskov Offensive of the Estonian Army's Petseri Battle Group captured Pskov on 25 May 1919, destroyed the Estonian Red Riflemen units in the process, and expelled all other Soviet forces from the