The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 3/Items from the Ceskoslovensky Dennik

Items from the Ceskoslovensky Dennik

BOLSHEVIK RUSSIA IN NOVEMBER.

In the Československý Denník published at Ekaterinburg, are found frequent sketches of life in European Russia under the Bolsheviki. Here is a story by a Czech journalist who was fighting on the northern Ural front at the time he wrote to the daily paper of his army.

Russia is ruled by famine and terror. Against the famine the Bolshevik remedy is: “Destroy the Czechoslovaks ,and then there will be plenty of bread from Siberia.” Against the dissatisfied individual they employ powder and shot. Their newspapers publish a daily list of unfortunates who were shot in retaliation for the so-called white terror; here is an example from our front. When we marched on Kungur in September, the railroad bridge between Perm and Kungur in the rear of the enemy was blown up. The commander of the Second Bolshevik Division had 29 men shot; men who according to his own declaration had nothing to do with the destruction of the bridge, but who were accused of harboring sympathies for the Czechoslovaks. The Bolsheviki threaten that they will keep up this procedure and will punish every hostile move of local population by massacre of prominent local men.

In the Red Army there is still much disorder. The barracks are empty, because the majority of the soldiers live in private quarters and come to the barracks only for meals, but the rooms are full of dirt and refuse. Admonition to keep the barracks clean and maintain discipline seems to have no effect. At least the Bolshevik newspapers confess that quite openly.

Complaints are also voiced against employees of soviet authorities who are supposed to work six hours a day, but spend most of the time in drinking tea and talking to each other. Death penalty is threatened to those who are convinced of grafting, but nevertheless bribes are constantly given. A soldier guarding the depot will pass through for a pound of bread a trades man who smuggles flour, and a judge will decide a case in your favor for as little as three roubles.

The Bolsheviki are trying to raise the morale of their army by various means. They carry on agitation among former army officers to enter the Red Guard. The All-Russian Soviet established on September 19th a military Order of the Red Flag to be awarded for bravery. The first man honored by this Order is commander of division Bluecher who cut his way through from Orenburg to Krasnoufimsk, a distance of seven hundred miles, and brought with him thousands of wagon loads of booty.

Desertion is now severely punished in the Red Army. Trotzky’s last order fixes the responsibility for desertion on the man’s family, if it is found in the Soviet territory. The commanders also warn their soldiers not to surrender, because the Czechoslovaks are supposed to kill their captives. To raise the spirits of their men the Bolsheviki paid 250 roubles to every soldier who participated in the re-capture of Kazan.

In order to be admitted to the officers training schools all that is necessary is to be able to read and write and understand the four fundamental rules of arithmetic.

The Czechoslovaks are particularly hated by the Bolsheviki; sometimes the Bolshevik papers speak of Czechoslovakia instead of Siberia; they call us the 20th Century beasts and accuse us of killing babies.

THE SUPPLY SERVICE OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK ARMY.

To carry on war regularly means to organize an efficient supply service. Up to June of 1918 this problem was handled in a haphazard way which resulted in serious shortage of food and clothing. Every regiment, every operating column looked after its own needs. The difficulties of the commissariat at the departure from the Ukraine were tremendous and those of our men who had the unevitable assignment as providers deserve great credit for doing as well as they did. In April, before fighting broke out, an army corps supply service was established, but under the conditions then prevailing this branch could not furnish all that was necessary; it had to beg the Bolsheviki for what it needed or buy it at night from dealers who smuggled, so to speak, food supplies in small amounts. The situation was rapidly improved after the break and especially after we occupied Kurgan and Petropavlovsk, the richest districts of Western Siberia. Purchasing commissions were sent out in all directions to buy supplies for the entire Army and to make contracts for future deliveries. Right then provision was made for winter, and i tappears that our army has now about 70 per cent of what it needs in winter clothing. Our quartermasters took over a number of factories and shops which are now producing at full speed. In Omsk there is a tailor shop turning out 750 overcoats a week, also a shoe shop makig 700 pairs a week, another at Petropavlovsk which delivers about 1250 pairs of boots a week, half of them for the Russian Army. In Omsk we have a machine shop making cans and roasting machines, in Petropavlovsk a soap factory which turns out daily 200 poods (one pood equals 36.113 pounds). In Kurgan we have a brewery which makes about 12,000 gallons of beer a week. In Novonikolajevsk we have a chemical laboratory in which is manufactured tooth powder, black and tan shoe polish, disinfectants, etc. In Kurgan we have a tin shop which makes pots, tea urns, kettles, cans. At several places we have packing establishments that supply 12,000 poods a month of smoked meat products, also cheese factories with a production of 3000 poods a month, and three flour mills which turn out 5,000 poods of flour a day. In Omsk we have a macaroni mill with a monthly output of 4,000 poods and an establishment for the production of lubricant oils.

At a distance of 20 to 30 miles from the railroad we have leased large farms where there are thousands of head of cattle, pigs and sheep feeding on the steppes and watched by our own cowboys. Our elderly soldiers are assigned to this work and have under them German prisoners of war. Meat on hoof is driven to the railroad and sent to the front. Now that freezing weather has set in, most of it will be slaughtered to save the loss of weight during winter. We have also sent a commission to Mongolia to buy cattle and our own camel transport trains bring supplies to us across the deserts. The men in charge are experts in their line and their assistants are men unfit for service at the front, but all have been there and know of their own experience, how necessary a properly regulated supply service is. We can say now after four months of work that our army has its most necessary wants supplied. Imported army supplies are looked after by a purchasing commission at Omsk, which has its representatives at Vladivostok.

Monthly needs of our army are approximately as follows:

Rye flour 100,500 poods, coffee 208 poods, chicory 69, sugar 11,260, tea 312, beef 45,000, pork 36,000, rice 2500, barley 6500, potatoes 22.500, macaroni 16, butter 11,500, cheese 3500, sausages 3500, smoked meat 4,000, vegetables 8125, salt 5,000 , vinegar 104, soap 2,000 , tobacco 2500, onions 3700, tomatoes 12500, spices, ets. 2670, a total of 280,496 poods (over 10,000,000 lbs.) or seven trains of 40 freight cars each. The cost of monthly supplies is 10,773,000 roubles.

THE OMSK WIRELESS.

One of the romantic incidents connected with the Czechoslovak campaign in Siberia is the story of the complete wireless outfit and its transport from Paris to Omsk. At the request of the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris the French minister of war decided to send to Siberia a complete wireless installation and a detachment of experts to operate it. This was the only way for the Czechoslovak Army to keep in touch with their leaders in Paris.

But the question was how to get the equipment to Omsk. There was no way of getting through European Russia, and at that time, in summer, is seemed very doubtful, whether the Siberian railroad east of Lake Baikal would be clear of the Bolsheviks before winter. The only remaining road to Central Siberia lead through the Arctic Sea to the mouth of the River Ob and up the Ob and the Irtish to Omsk. But no one knew whether passage through the River Ob would be allowed by the Bolsheviki, for Bolshevik bands broken up by our soldiers at the different railroad stations scattered through the Siberian forest to the north. There were rumors of 20 Bolshevik ships on the Lower Ob, and so the French ship with the wireless outfit was also equipped with guns and machine guns. The ship got safely to the mouth of the Ob, where the equipment was transferred to the river steamer “Groznyj” and after several weeks of sailing got to Omsk without an accident. The station was promptly installed and is functioning excellently, being able to receive and send between Omsk and Paris.

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Patriotic Russians in Siberia have troubles with which our own tribulations during the Red Cross, W. S. S. and similar campaigns cannot even be compared. Here is the complaint of a patriotic Siberiak, as given in the Československý Denník:

As a patriotic citizen I must attend a war relief concert at least three times a week. Admission for myself, wife and daughter is 45 rubles, program 10 rubles, flowers 40 r., three teas with biscuit 12 r., wardrobe 1.50 r., a total of 108.50 rubles each concert. That makes 325.50 rubles a week or 1302 a month. And that is minimum. Thank God that it is impossible for the ladies to get new dresses, for what would I do then?

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In the “Ufa Narod” a Russian soldier who enlisted in the first Czechoslovak regiment writes about life in this regiment. He is full of praise of the brotherly spirit, the kind manner of officers with men, harmony, cleanlines, order, comradeship ,entertainments etc. In short you can see from his words that he feels in this “revolutionary family” as if in heaven. It is a pity that more Russians do not enlist in Russian-Czech regiments.

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The gold treasure captured by the Czechoslovaks at Kazan is valued at 6,000,000.000 roubles and is kept in Omsk, far from the scene of war operations, in especially well secured vaults. It was turned over to the Siberian Government who requested the Czechoslovak command to assume the guardianship of the treasure. The gold consists of coin, ingots and wrought gold. Together with it was captured also the great silver reserve which in weight is about equal to the gold treasure.

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The Czechoslovak Army in Siberia according to latest reports consists of 12 regiments of infantry, 2 artillery brigades, 2 batteries of heavy artillery, one reserve regiments of infantry, 2 regiments of cavalrv, one battalion of special attacking troops, and the usual supply, medical and other services.