As must happen in any war, it was not long before tidings less favourable came to hand—at first in the form of reports that all was not quite in order among our men. From August onwards the towns taken on the Volga had to be evacuated. To have taken them at all was, doubtless, a strategic mistake, for it was hard to hold a front so extended. Then the propaganda of the Bolshevists and of our other political enemies began to make itself felt, and hostile accounts of the moral condition of the army were spread. These impressed me less than the way in which Allied officers, returning from Russia and Siberia, spoke of the decline of our military discipline. Little publicity was given to these stories but, of course, they did us harm, though by far the greater part of public opinion and official circles continued to support us.
After I had sought the help of the American Government for our lads, President Wilson and the American Red Cross took action and a military relief expedition was sent to Siberia. On August 8, 1918, America and Japan agreed that each should send a few thousand men to Vladivostok “to render the Czechoslovaks such assistance and help as might be possible against the armed Austrian and German prisoners of war who are attacking them.” From the funds at his personal disposal, President Wilson granted a credit of 7,000,000 dollars. The money was entrusted to a special committee—one of its members being a Czechoslovak—which was formed ad hoc. Moreover, a number of eminent men, whose names I gratefully record, lent us a hand. Mr. V. C. McCormick spent not a little time in working for our Legions and urged the President to grant the credit. Mr. Vauclain likewise espoused our cause; and, as regards the army in Siberia, both of Mr. Lansing’s Under-Secretaries of State, Messrs. Polk and Long, gave us assistance, while Mr. Landfield, a special assistant in the State Department,
nothing else in the war has done since the days when King Albert of Belgium held out at Liége.” (“The Letters of F. K. Lane,” 1922, page 293.)
In the name of England Mr. Lloyd George wrote on September 11, 1918:—To the President of the Czechoslovak National Council, Paris.
On behalf of the British War Cabinet I send you our heartiest congratulations on the striking successes won by the Czechoslovak forces against armies of German and Austrian troops in Siberia. The story of the adventures and triumphs of this small army is, indeed, one of the greatest epics of history. It has filled us all with admiration for the courage, persistence and self-control of your countrymen and shows what can be done to triumph over time, distance and lack of material sources by those holding the spirit of freedom in their hearts. Your nation has rendered inestimable service to Russia and to the Allies in their struggle to free the world from despotism; we shall never forget it.
Lloyd George.
