5 Marks Independent West Army

The Western Volunteer Army under Pavel Bermondt-Avalov occupied Mitau briefly in 1919 and issued this currency as part of a broader — and largely delusional — campaign to hold territory against both Bolshevik and Latvian nationalist forces simultaneously. Bermondt-Avalov's command was never recognized by the White movement's main leadership, and his army was effectively a rogue force, funded in part by German officers who never fully accepted the armistice terms.

The notes were printed locally in Mitau during the occupation and circulated under duress in a region where confidence in any issuing authority was essentially zero. Latvian forces drove Bermondt-Avalov out by December 1919, ending the currency's brief run almost immediately after it began.