Russia that the position became uncertain, since Russia was neutral after the peace of Brest-Litovsk and all international arrangements with her were of doubtful value.
Everywhere the same solution was adopted-Allied Governments assented to the formation of our units on Allied soil, and to the recruiting of volunteers among prisoners of war and non-prisoners alike; and, at the same time, they recognized our National Council as the political organ of our movement and consequently as the Supreme Command of our army. In other words, while forming a part of the Allied forces, our army was autonomous and subject to the authority of the National Council. I was Commander-in-Chief, or “Dictator,” as our men in Russia proclaimed me. But I was not the military leader. My relationship to the Legions was like that of a sovereign to his army which is led by its commanders and officers. These commanders were, in point of fact, French, Italian and Russian generals.
This recognition of the National Council as the Supreme Authority entailed recognition of the unity of our army as a whole, that is to say, of all the Legions in the various Allied countries; and, since our army in Russia became part of the French army when the Russians withdrew from the struggle, the French Commander-in-Chief held the High Command, and he appointed General Janin to command all our Legions. As I have said, General Janin had belonged to the French Military Mission in Russia. He had learned Russian, knew Russian military conditions and had seen our men. On behalf of the National Council, he directed, at the beginning of 1918, the recruiting of our men in the French camps to which our prisoners of war had found their way from Serbia through Italy; and, on his way to Siberia to take over his command, he stayed with me in Washington where we agreed upon what our army should do in given circumstances. He discharged his hard task with uprightness and prudence. In practice, it was not possible for him to act fully as the effective commander-in-chief of the whole army, since our Russian Legions were in Siberia, and the contingent which had been sent from Russia to France had been united with the original volunteers from France and America. Moreover, the Legion in Italy, which was much larger than the Legion in France, remained separate except in the case of a small detachment, a battalion I believe, which was sent to France in order to demonstrate the unity of the army.
Since our army was created somewhat late in the war, the
