Albert Beaumont

“ No army was ever scattered over such a vast distance and harassed by so many difficulties. The Bolsheviks, without any strong union between themselves, were like swarms of wild wasps, stinging and worrying where they could. Their plan seemed to separate our echelons as far from one another and to disarm them as much as possible, and then to fall upon them when they would be completely at their mercy. ”

“ We must show ourselves worthy of revolution. We must work more diligently than ever. Before, we worked for the Tsar, now we work for ourselves, for our wives and families. We must be a credit to the Republic. We must see that our soldiers at the front don’t lack ammunition to fight the Germans. Get to work, men, and do your duty. That is the best way to help the Republic.“ When they said this we Czechs applauded unanimously. ”

“ But on the other hand, the Czechs also knew their own business, and that was to fight the Austrians and the Germans, the biggest tyrants on earth. Until the German autocrats and the Austrian oppressors were conquered and crushed there was no liberty and no life worth living for the Czechs, and that was why they had formed their legion, and were determined to keep it up and to fight for their own freedom, whether the Russians helped them or not. ”

“ The Bolsheviks became a danger to our men. They sought them out separately and collectively when they could, talked and argued with them, and tried to fill them with Bolshevik ideas. When translated into Russian, our National Organisation became the Czecho-Slovak National Soviet! It was easy, therefore, to create a confusion. If our soldiers adhered to our Soviet, it was naturally argued that they should have the same ideas as the Bolshevik Soviets! ”

“ The enthusiasm with which they had surrendered was subjected immediately afterwards to a severe ordeal, when, despite their being Czechs and Slavs who were longing to fight for independence, they were treated as simple prisoners of war. Their fate was the same as that of the others, Germans and Magyars, and they were destined for the distant prisoners’ camps in Eastern Russia or Siberia. It is the story of all the Czechs who were taken prisoners in the early days of the war. They were placed, often despite their indignant protests, in the same cars as the Magyars and Austrians. ”

“ It was pitiful to see the ruthlessness with which the Bolshevik bands ransacked and villaged where they could, and destroyed railway material and public buildings. Our soldiers could say to themselves that if their own dear country, Bohemia, should ever become the scene of such disorder and such a collapse of civilisation, it was not worth while fighting for. Better go out into the vast steppes or the wild woods than witness such scenes. Only an abject race could look on and bear such things. ”

“ He argued, on the contrary, that it was just then, when her own army was in a most critical position, that Russia needed us. He issued a proclamation, the main features of which I well remember. It was sent to all the Czecho-Slovaks in Russia and Siberia. He declared that it was the duty now of every Czecho-Slovak to join the national army. Those who were still working in the factories were to leave them, and to make room for the Russians. “Let the Russians work while you go and fight at the front. It is a fight for liberty, and for the defence of our own country. ”

“ Fifteen or more busy camps have been formed, three or four miles apart, communicating either by railway or roads, with motor-cars travelling to and fro or motor-cycles scurrying from camp to camp. They wear Italian uniform, with the leaf of the popular Bohemian tree as their only distinction. They know only their own native language, and it is the first time that Czech is spoken by such a large number under the sunny sky of Italy. ”

“ Our leaders had during the first days of the revolution urged upon the Revolutionary Government the need of forming our army. During the first two months Government hesitated, and seemed even more opposed to it than had been the Empire. But on the one hand, our great leader, M. Masaryk, came to Russia soon after the revolution, and on the other towards the end of May, Kerensky, seeing the Russian army fall to pieces, gladly authorised the formation of a Czecho-Slovak army, which would compensate some of the losses. ”

“ On this occasion it came to blows between the Croat and the Czech. A Ukrainian officer listened, and took sides with the Germans. He had admiration only for the Germans, and said, “The Slavs are only second-rate nations.“ One of our officers answered, “You may speak for yourself, not for us.“ Hostilities between us became so great that the colonel finally had to separate us from the Germans, Poles Austrians, Magyars, and Croats. These were given a separate house, and we were at last in comparative peace. For days we had refused to sit or eat at table with some of the Austrian officers. ”

“ All the rest remained where they were, including four Czech lieutenants.
As soon as the Russians were on the edge of our trenches our men climbed out. Those who still kept a rifle in their hands threw them down. “We are Czechs,“ was the cry, as the men ran to get behind the Russians, and nothing now would keep them back. Our most exemplary group was the band, which kept together, every man clinging to his musical instrument as the one thing to be saved. The Russians pointed the direction we were to take, and our men lost no time getting to the opposite hill. ”

“ It gave us a high idea of the gigantic resources in men which Russia seemed to have, and their equipment seemed to us also perfect. We commented upon it among ourselves, and we recalled the disparaging remarks often made by the Austrians about Russia. Our idea at that time was that Russia was a gigantic empire of inexhaustible strength and resources. We were proud to be Slavs, and proud to think that the future of our little Slav country would surely be well protected by our great Slav brethren, the Russians. ”

“ The line north of Moscow was not only exposed to the danger of the Bolsheviks, but it led for a distance of more than 1,000 kilometres through regions without any food or possibility of obtaining provisions. To spend the whole winter in the frozen north would have simply meant the death of our army, as the Bolsheviks could easily have cut us off and left us to starve. ”

“ The army is being formed of ex-prisoners taken in the East and the West, and no small number at the Italian front, and by volunteers from America. Their officers have been called from France and Russia, and from the distant stations of Siberia. They are fine-looking, soldierly men, of medium size, taciturn as a rule, but with a bright twinkle in their blue eyes and a strong patriotic fervour in their hearts. ”

“ Whenever we appeared at any place, even with the strength of only a company, the Soviets fled, the Red Guards fired a few rounds and scattered, and the places were ours, much to the joy of the delivered inhabitants. ”

“ The Finns took prisoners 1,550 officers and men, captured four trench mortars and nine machine-guns and one mine-thrower. The Czecho-Slovaks took all before them. They took prisoners sixty-two officers and 3,150 soldiers, and captured fifteen guns and a large number of machine guns, most of which were immediately turned against the enemy. When we heard this result at the Borispol Camp there was immense enthusiasm and jubilation. The official Russian bulletin, which we read a few days later, fully confirmed the reports of the splendid success. We were proud of our countrymen. ”

“ Three camps were formed there for Magyars, Austrians, Poles, and Ruthenians, and a fourth exclusively for Czecho-Slovaks. But a Czech officer directed each camp, and I was placed at the head of the Czechs, who numbered about 2,000. We at once organised a political association, and I was elected president. Our men were lodged at the barracks of the 5th Russian Regiment, which was at the front, and we had plenty of time for study, exercises, and sport. The few men who did not want to join our political association for the independence of Bohemia were sent to the other camps. ”

“ Our service to Russia, as will doubtless be realised in the future was enormous, not only by our enabling the inhabitants of Siberia to continue their peaceful pursuits whilst the war still waged with fury and to go on producing and cultivating their vast fields, but also by preserving intact the great Siberian railway line and much of its material. ”

“ It required no small patriotism on the part of the officers and men to look forward to the final struggle against the Germans and Austrians. War prisoners, as a rule, are glad to have escaped fighting and the danger of death. For them, whatever hardships or restraints they may have, it is nevertheless a maxim that the war is over, others will have to fight it out. It was not so with us Czecho-Slovaks. ”

“ We were always accompanied by a German regiment. A German regiment preceded us and a German regiment followed us. We anxiously questioned whither we were going. The word came that it was to the River San. This was bad news. So, at least, we imagined. If we wanted to throw down our arms, a river front might be the very worst place. We should have to swim across. Many of us might not be able to swim. The Austrians would see it and turn their guns on us as we tried to cross. The Russians might not understand us and fire on us too. ”

“ The superfluous rifles and ammunition was then handed over to the Bolsheviks. The scheme, probably a diabolical one suggested by the Germans, who had now become the dictators at Petrograd and Moscow, was to leave us eventually at the mercy of the German, Austrian, and Magyar prisoners in Siberia, who, as we later discovered, were allowed freely to arm themselves and formed big armies to prevent our passage and to annihilate us in the wilds of Siberia. ”

“ On the hill to our right was the 27th Austrian Regiment. On the hill to the left was the 59th Austrian Regiment. The hill we occupied was slightly forward. Our regiment was commanded by an Austrian, Colonel Marten, who, with his staff, was about 800 yards behind our trenches. As I stood on the summit of the hill I could easily take in the whole battle. I could count one by one the Russian machine guns on the hill opposite us, and distinctly saw the distribution of companies and sections. Furious fighting was going on to our right and left between the Austrians and the Russians. ”

“ They had to separate them from the Magyars or Austrians, the Ruthenians or Poles. One of the trains stops at a Siberian station. Two prisoners roll out of a car, fighting, punching, tearing, and kicking each other. They are separated in the rough-andtumble, both of them badly mauled and bleeding. The Russians pay no attention to what is going on, but the Austrian senior officer, who is vaguely in charge, and voluntarily assumes a commanding attitude, intervenes. The two prisoners are two lieutenants of the Austro-Hungarian army, the one a Czech, the other a German-Austrian. ”

“ Frau Colonel“ wanted had to be done. She always spoke German to her husband in public, and he spoke to her in the same language. They made of Ishim a prisoners’ camp that would have been more at home in Mecklenburg than in Russia.
It seemed to rankle in the heart of Frau Colonel that we had our liberty by order of Petrograd. She could do nothing to us, nor could her husband, but they took revenge on our men. The Czech soldiers were kept as prisoners in barracks. They were badly fed and badly treated. They never got their pay, which went into the colonel’s pocket. The men felt most wretched. ”

“ The rest of the line, on to Lake Baikal, formed the third important railway we had to hold against Bolsheviks and German, Magyar, and Austrian prisoners, who were armed against us at the instigation of Moscow. The scattered forces of the Bolsheviks and the prisoners they armed in Central and Eastern Siberia may have amounted to about 50.000 men. As the greater part of our troops were still west of Irkutsk, we had no small task to face at the far eastern extremity and in the centre of Siberia. ”

“ I was sent with a detachment of about 100 Czechs to Morsichinskoie Selo, a village about 120 kilometres from Kurgan.
KIND SIBERIAN PEASANTS.
The Sibarian peasants were always very kind to our soldiers. They treated the Czechs well everywhere, and we had only to show ourselves to be received as friends. The mayor of Morsichinskoie Selo was and old man, the richest man in the place, but he could neither read nor write. A Siberian peasant who can write his name is looked upon as a great literary man! I got my soldiers at once to study Russian and learn also the Russian alphabet. ”

“ Had it not been for this sincere, whole-hearted, and devoted co-operation of all, and the initiative, courage, and intelligence of our men, the success of our retreat might have been jeopardised at the very outset. We could feel certain that the Germans would bring pressure to bear on the Bolsheviks to put all sorts of difficulties in our way, and this was clearly proved when soon afterwards the Bolsheviks demanded that we should leave most of our arms and equipment behind. ”