The role of the White Czechs in the civil war. White Czechs in Kazan: “There was blood, there was bread and salt, there were balls, and counterintelligence worked
The armed uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps in May - August 1918 in the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East, which created a favorable situation for the liquidation of Soviet authorities and the formation of anti-Soviet governments (Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly, Provisional Siberian Government, later - Provisional All-Russian Government ) and the beginning of large-scale armed actions by white troops against Soviet power.
The reason for the start of the uprising was the attempt of the Soviet authorities to disarm the legionnaires.The beginning of the uprising
The Soviet government became aware of secret Allied negotiations on Japanese intervention in Siberia and the Far East. On March 28, in the hope of preventing this, Trotsky agreed to Lockhart for an all-Union landing in Vladivostok. However, on April 4, Japanese Admiral Kato, without warning the allies, landed a small detachment of marines in Vladivostok “to protect the lives and property of Japanese citizens.” The Soviet government, suspecting the Entente of a double game, demanded that new negotiations begin on changing the direction of the evacuation of Czechoslovaks from Vladivostok to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk.
The German General Staff, for its part, also feared the imminent appearance of a 40,000-strong corps on the Western Front, at a time when France was already running out of its last manpower reserves and so-called colonial troops were hastily sent to the front. Under pressure from the German Ambassador to Russia, Count Mirbach, on April 21, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Chicherin sent a telegram to the Krasnoyarsk Council to suspend further movement of Czechoslovak trains to the east.
On May 25-27, at several points where Czechoslovak trains were located (Maryanovka station, Irkutsk, Zlatoust), clashes occurred with Red Guards who were trying to disarm the legionnaires.
On May 27, Voitsekhovsky took Chelyabinsk.
The Czechoslovaks, having defeated the forces of the Red Guard thrown against them, occupied several more cities, overthrowing the power of the Bolsheviks in them. The Czechoslovaks began to occupy cities lying in their path: Petropavlovsk, Kurgan, and opened the road to Omsk. Other units entered Novonikolaevsk, Mariinsk, Nizhneudinsk and Kansk (May 29). At the beginning of June 1918, the Czechoslovaks entered Tomsk.
On May 29, Chechek’s group, after a bloody battle that lasted almost a day, captured Penza.
Not far from Samara, legionnaires defeated Soviet units (June 4-5, 1918) and made it possible to cross the Volga. June 4 The Entente declares the Czechoslovak Corps part of its armed forces and declares that it will consider its disarmament as an unfriendly act towards the Entente. The situation was aggravated by pressure from Germany, which continued to demand that the Bolshevik government disarm the Czechoslovaks. In Samara, captured by the Czechoslovaks, on June 8, the first anti-Bolshevik government was organized - the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch), on June 23 - the Provisional Siberian Government in Omsk. This marked the beginning of the formation of other anti-Bolshevik governments throughout Russia.
The commander of the First Division, Stanislav Chechek, gave an order in which he especially emphasized the following:
Our detachment is designated as the predecessor of the allied forces, and the instructions received from headquarters have the sole purpose of building an anti-German front in Russia in alliance with the entire Russian people and our allies.
Russian volunteers of the General Staff of Lieutenant Colonel V.O. Kappel retake Syzran (07/10/1918), and Chechek - Kuznetsk (07/15/1918). The next part of the People's Army of KOMUCH V.O. Kappel made its way through Bugulma to Simbirsk (07/22/1918) and together they marched on Saratov and Kazan. In the Urals, Colonel Voitsekhovsky occupied Tyumen, and ensign Chila - Yekaterinburg (07/25/1918). In the east, General Gaida occupied Irkutsk (07/11/1918) and later Chita.
Under the pressure of superior Bolshevik forces, units of the People's Army of KOMUCH abandoned Kazan on September 10, Simbirsk on September 12, and Syzran, Stavropol, and Samara in early October. In the Czechoslovak legions, there was growing uncertainty about the need to fight in the Volga region and the Urals.
Already in the fall of 1918, Czechoslovak units began to be withdrawn to the rear and subsequently did not take part in battles, concentrating along the Trans-Siberian Railway. News of the proclamation of independent Czechoslovakia increased the desire of the legionnaires to return home. Even the Minister of War of the Czechoslovak Republic, Milan Stefanik, during his inspection in November-December 1918, could not stop the decline in the morale of the legionnaires in Siberia. He issued an order ordering all units of the Czechoslovak Corps to leave the front and hand over positions on the front line to Russian troops.
On January 27, 1919, the commander of the Czechoslovak army in Russia, General Jan Syrovy, issued an order declaring the section of the highway between Novonikolaevsk and Irkutsk the operational area of the Czechoslovak army. The Siberian railway thus came under the control of the Czech legionnaires, and the actual manager of it was the commander-in-chief of the allied forces in Siberia and the Far East, French General Maurice Janin. It was he who established the order of movement of trains and evacuation of military units.
During 1919, the corps' combat effectiveness continued to decline. Its units also participated in security and punitive operations against the Red partisans from Novonikolaevsk to Irkutsk, but they were mainly involved in economic work: repairing locomotives, rolling stock, and railway tracks.
Retreat.
On February 7, Kolchak and Pepelyaev were shot by order of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee.
On the same day, at the Kuytun station near Irkutsk, a truce agreement was signed between the command of the Red Army and the Czechoslovak Corps, guaranteeing the withdrawal of parts of the corps to the Far East and evacuation. With regard to the Russian gold reserves, it was agreed that they would be transferred to the Soviet side after the last Czechoslovak echelon left Irkutsk for the east. Until this date, a truce was in effect, prisoners were exchanged, coal was loaded into locomotives, and lists of Russian and Czechoslovak representatives to escort the trains were drawn up and agreed upon. The transfer of the train with gold reserves to the Soviet authorities took place on March 1. On the night of March 1–2, the last Czech trains left Irkutsk, and regular units of the Red Army entered the city.
Legionnaires at the funeral of their comrades killed in battle with the Bolsheviks near Nikolsk-Usuriysky. 1918
Already in December 1919, the first ships with legionnaires began to leave Vladivostok. 72,644 people (3,004 officers and 53,455 soldiers and warrant officers of the Czechoslovak Army) were transported to Europe on 42 ships. More than four thousand people - dead and missing - did not return from Russia.
In November 1920, the last train with legionnaires from Russia returned to Czechoslovakia.
The October Revolution of 1917 threw a significant part of Russian society into confusion and at the same time caused a rather sluggish reaction from opponents of the Bolsheviks. Although the wave of uprisings began almost immediately, the Soviet government managed to localize and suppress the uprisings quite quickly. The white movement at first remained scattered and did not go beyond mute discontent.
And then the Czechoslovak corps rebelled - a large, well-armed and tightly built formation, which also stretched from the Volga region to the Pacific Ocean. The rebellion of the Czechoslovaks revived the anti-Bolshevik forces in eastern Russia and gave them time and reason for consolidation.
Czech squad
From the very beginning of the First World War, the Czechs on the territory of the Russian Empire showed enviable organization. The most socially and politically active of them formed the Czech National Committee. Already on the day of the official declaration of war, this committee accepted an appeal to Nicholas II, declaring the duty of the Czechs to help their Russian brothers. On September 7, the delegation even obtained an audience with the emperor and handed him a memorandum, which stated, among other things, that “the free and independent crown of St. Wenceslas (the prince and patron saint of the Czech Republic, who lived in the 10th century) will soon shine in the rays of the Romanov crown...”
At first, the enthusiasm of the Slavic brothers was met rather coolly. The military leadership of Russia was wary of movements organized “from below,” but still allowed the Czechs, as the order of the Minister of War V.A. Sukhomlinov, “to form one or two regiments in Kyiv or, depending on the number of volunteers, a battalion of at least two companies.” They were not going to be thrown into battle - it was too valuable a propaganda card. The Czechs were supposed to demonstrate in every possible way the unity of the Slavic peoples in the fight against the Germans.
Already on July 30, the Council of Ministers decided to form the Czech squad in Kyiv - because it was there that the center of the Czech diaspora in Russia and its largest part were located. Throughout August, volunteers eagerly signed up to join the ranks. The unit included Russian Czechs, primarily from the Kyiv province, but also from other regions. At the same time, they established the Czech Druzhina Foundation, which dealt with supplies, hospitals and caring for the families of the fighters.
The Czechs experienced a genuine and completely sincere national upsurge: it seemed that a little more, and the mighty Russian brother would give them independence. Their own armed forces, even if recruited from the subjects of the Russian Tsar under Russian command, provided serious grounds for creating their own state. The head of the military administration of the Czechoslovak legions, Rudolf Medek, later said: “The existence of the Czech Army would definitely play a decisive role in resolving the issue of restoring the independence of the Czech Republic. It should be noted that the emergence of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 directly depended on the existence of a combat-ready Czech-Slovak army.”
By September 1914, the Czech squad (one battalion) was already operating as a military unit within the Russian armed forces. In October it numbered about a thousand people and soon went to the front at the disposal of the 3rd Army under the command of General R.D. Radko-Dmitriev.
The officer corps was Russian - in Russia there simply was not a sufficient number of Czechs with experience and higher military education. This situation will change only during the Civil War.
Prisoner of War Corps
Throughout the war, Czechoslovaks on the other side of the front surrendered en masse. The idea of the Austro-Hungarian government to distribute weapons to people who considered themselves oppressed was not the most successful. By 1917, out of 600 thousand prisoners of war from the entire Russian-Austrian front, about 200 thousand were Czechoslovaks. However, many continued to fight on the side of the Austro-Hungarians, including the future general secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Klement Gottwald, and the son of the future first president of Czechoslovakia, Jan Masaryk.
The Russian command treated the prisoners with suspicion. In addition, at the beginning of the war, the imperial army did not need much manpower. But in March 1915, at the direction of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, and at the numerous requests of various public organizations, Czech and Slovak prisoners of war began to be accepted into the Czech squad. By the end of 1915, the formation doubled its strength and became the First Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment named after Jan Hus. A year later, the regiment grew to four thousand people and turned into a rifle brigade. There were also disadvantages: the motley mass of subjects of Austria-Hungary eroded the squad, which previously consisted of ideological supporters of Russia. This will come out later.
After the February Revolution, the Slavic brothers became noticeably more active. In May 1917, a branch of the Czechoslovak National Council appeared in Russia. The Council met in Paris throughout the war under the leadership of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk. Let's talk about this man in more detail - his role in the formation of independent Czechoslovakia is difficult to overestimate. University professor Masaryk was a member of the Austrian parliament before the First World War, and then became an active figure in the underground organization “Mafia”, which sought the independence of Czechoslovakia.
The future father of the nation was married to Charlotte Garrigues (he took her last name as his middle name), a relative of the successful American entrepreneur Charles Crane, a great connoisseur of Eastern European culture. In his political views, Masaryk was a liberal nationalist, oriented toward Western countries. At the same time, he had enough diplomatic flair and the ability to use the real situation to his advantage. Thus, in a letter to the British Foreign Minister E. Gray in May 1915, he, as if yielding to Slavophile public opinion, noted: “The Czech Republic is projected as a monarchical state. Only a few radical politicians stand for a republic in the Czech Republic... The Czech people - this must be strongly emphasized - are a completely Russophile people. A Russian dynasty in whatever form would be the most popular... Czech politicians would like to create a Czech kingdom in full harmony with Russia. Russia's desire and intention will be decisive." After the overthrow of the Russian autocracy, the situation changed dramatically. The Romanov dynasty is leaving the political scene, and democratic forces of various kinds and orientations are coming to power. Under the new conditions, Czechoslovakians (despite all the statements, mostly democrats) receive greater government support than under the Tsar.
The Czechoslovak troops performed well during Kerensky's June offensive (perhaps this cannot be said about anyone else). During the Battle of Zborów (in Galicia) on July 1–2, 1917, the Czechoslovak Rifle Brigade defeated the Czech and Hungarian infantry divisions, which were almost twice its size. This victory could not change the deplorable democratic situation at the front, but it created a sensation in Russian society. The Provisional Government decided to lift the previously existing restrictions on the formation of military units from prisoners. The Czechoslovak brigade received recognition, honor and glory - as one of the few combat units that achieved at least some success in that shameful year.
Soon the expanded brigade was deployed into the 1st Hussite Rifle Division. Already on July 4, 1917, under the new commander-in-chief Lavra Kornilov, the 2nd Hussite Division appeared. Finally, in September-October 1917, by order of the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Nikolai Dukhonin, the Czechoslovak Corps of 3 divisions began to be created, one of which, however, existed only on paper. It was a serious formation - approximately 40 thousand bayonets. Russian Major General Vladimir Shokorov was placed at the head of the Czech units. In August 1918, all Czechoslovaks in Russia were mobilized, and the corps grew to 51 thousand people.
The October Revolution dramatically changed the situation. The leadership of the Czechoslovak National Council, on the one hand, declared its support for the Provisional Government and its readiness to continue the fight against the Germans, on the other hand, it decided not to interfere in the political affairs of Russia. The Bolshevik government did not have any special love for the allies of the previous regime, did not intend to fight the Germans, and the Czechoslovaks had to ask for help from the Entente. In December, the Poincare government decided to organize an autonomous Czechoslovak army (“legion”). The Chekhovs were reassigned to the French command, and the French immediately ordered them to go to the Western Front by sea: either through Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, or through Vladivostok.
It took the Bolsheviks and Czechoslovaks several months to establish permanent relations (this was done through separate detachments on the ground; the vertical of power at that moment was quite illusory). In order not to quarrel with the Reds, the Czechoslovak leadership allows communist agitation and refuses proposals from the white generals and Miliukov to oppose the Bolsheviks. Some Czechs even decided to support the Reds in the Russian civil strife (for example, Jaroslav Hasek, the future author of “Schweik”) - 200 people wanted to fight for the world revolution.
At the same time, many socialists from among prisoners of war appeared in the Czechoslovak National Council, which largely predetermined the political face of this body in subsequent years. The main task of the council is to evacuate the corps from Russia to France by sea and transfer it to the Western Front. The route through Murmansk and Arkhangelsk was considered too dangerous due to the threat of a German offensive, so they preferred a circuitous route through the Far East. It was problematic to disarm an organized delegation of Czechoslovak guests, so the agreement concluded on March 26, 1918 bashfully allowed the legionnaires to retain some of their weapons “for self-defense from attacks by counter-revolutionaries,” and the military personnel formally moved not in battle formation, but “as a group of free citizens.” In return, the Bolsheviks demanded the dismissal of all Russian officers as counter-revolutionary elements. For this, the Council of People's Commissars pledged to provide the legionnaires with all possible assistance along the way. The next day a telegram arrived with an explanation: “part of the weapon” meant one armed company of 168 people, one machine gun and several hundred rounds of ammunition per rifle. Everything else had to be handed over to a special commission in Penza against receipt. In the end, the Reds received 50 thousand rifles, 1200 machine guns, 72 guns.
True, according to the commander of the western group of the corps, Stanislav Chechek, many soldiers hid their weapons, and he himself, like many other officers, approved of their actions. Three regiments of the corps did not disarm at all, because by the beginning of the uprising they simply did not have time to get to Penza. With the demand for the resignation of Russian officers, approximately the same thing happened: only 15 people were fired, and the majority (including, for example, corps commander Shokorov and his chief of staff Diterichs) remained in their previous positions.
At the forefront of the counter-revolution
Despite the Bolsheviks' interest in the speedy transfer of the corps to the sea, the Czech trains were constantly delayed and driven into dead ends - trains full of Hungarians and Germans, who were traveling from captivity back to their armies after Brest, were coming towards them in a continuous stream. There was logic in this: the prisoners had already been pumped up with red propaganda by agitators, the Council of People's Commissars hoped that at home they would kindle the fire of the world revolution.
By April, the movement of the corps had completely stopped: the Japanese landed in Vladivostok, Ataman Semyonov was advancing in Transbaikalia, the Germans demanded their prisoners back as soon as possible, the general chaos reached the last degree. The Czechs began to fear (not unreasonably) that the Reds would hand them over to the Germans. By May 1918, Czechoslovak trains stretched along the entire Trans-Siberian Railway from Penza to Vladivostok.
And then the Chelyabinsk incident happened. The Russians took the most indirect part in it: some Hungarian at some station threw an iron object at some Czech. The comrades of the offended fighter took the Magyar off the train and lynched him. For this they were arrested by the local red authorities. The legionnaires did not appreciate this treatment and began to destroy Soviet institutions: they freed prisoners, disarmed the Red Guards and seized a warehouse with weapons. Among other things, artillery was found in the warehouse. The stunned friends of the workers offered no resistance. And then, realizing that since such fun had begun, they needed to kill the last Bolshevik, the rebellious Czechs contacted their comrades-in-arms on other sections of the Trans-Siberian Railway. There was a full-scale uprising.
The legionnaires elected the Provisional Executive Committee of the Congress of the Czechoslovak Army, which was headed by 3 group commanders - Stanislav Chechek, Radola Gaida and Sergei Voitsekhovsky (a Russian officer, who would later become the fourth person in the military hierarchy of independent Czechoslovakia). The commanders decided to sever relations with the Bolsheviks and move to Vladivostok, if necessary, then with fighting.
The Bolsheviks did not react to the events immediately - on May 21, representatives of the Czechoslovak National Council Max and Cermak, who were in Moscow, were arrested. They had to order the legionnaires to disarm. However, the Czechoslovak executive committee ordered the troops to continue moving. For some time the parties tried to find a compromise, but to no avail. Finally, on May 25, Trotsky gives a clear order to disarm the corps. Railway workers are ordered to detain its trains, armed legionnaires are threatened with execution on the spot, and “honest Czechoslovaks” who have laid down their arms are threatened with “brotherly help.” The craziest Red Guards sincerely tried to carry out the instructions of the People's Commissar, but it was useless. The legionnaires crossed their Rubicon.
From the tactical side, the position of the legion was quite vulnerable - there was no established communication between the echelons, the Reds could easily cut through the Czechs and break them into parts. The Slav brothers were saved by the revolutionary chaos and the general uselessness of the Red Army commanders: the Bolsheviks were simply confused - they had neither a plan, nor an organization, nor any reliable troops. In addition, the local population had already tried the delights of war communism and were not eager to help the workers’ friends. As a result, the Soviet government, which triumphantly marched across the country after the October Revolution, turned around and began to retreat just as triumphantly. The Czechoslovaks took (or actively helped to take) Penza, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Petropavlovsk, Novonikolaevsk, in early June - Samara and Tomsk, in July - Tyumen, Yekaterinburg and Irkutsk. Officer circles and other anti-Bolshevik organizations arose everywhere. At the very end of August, parts of the Czechoslovak corps united with each other and thus secured control over the Trans-Siberian Railway from the Volga region to Vladivostok.
Of course, political life immediately came into full swing. All sorts of governments and committees began to mushroom. In the Volga region, the Committee of Members of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly, consisting mainly of Socialist Revolutionaries, creates the People's Army, at first similar to the armed forces of the Kerensky era - with soldier committees and without shoulder straps. A Czech, Stanislav Chechek, is put in command of it. The Czechoslovaks fight side by side with this army, advance, capture Ufa, Simbirsk, Kazan. In Kazan - a huge success - part of Russia's gold reserves falls into the hands of the whites. The eastern counter-revolution meets almost no resistance: the Reds just pulled together everything more or less combat-ready against Denikin, who after the Second Kuban Campaign turned into a serious threat. The worst enemies of the Czechs (several authors note this) were the Austrians and Hungarians - they did not take them prisoners at all. As a rule, Russian Red Army soldiers were treated somewhat more humanely.
At the end of May 1918, on the eve of the Czechoslovak uprising, the Bolshevik garrison in Petropavlovsk numbered approximately 800 people. Of these, up to 500 were located at the cannery. The latter was surrounded by a brick wall with loopholes. The Reds had a significant number of machine guns, but they had no artillery. The rest of the Red Army soldiers guarded the Council of Deputies, the post office, the railway station, the bank, the telegraph and other institutions in the city. At the railway station at that time there was one Czechoslovak train - a company under the command of Captain Jacques and the 604th Russian ambulance train, carrying chronicle soldiers from the collapsed Russian-German front and now heading east, to more profitable places. The secret organization in the city of Petropavlovsk numbered approximately 60-70 people. These were mainly officers - Cossacks and infantrymen.
Czechoslovakian machine gunners are preparing for battle. 1918
On the night of May 31, the Czechoslovaks, led by Captain M. Jacques, together with the organization of military foreman V.I. Volkov, overthrew Soviet power in Petropavlovsk. At midnight, the Czechoslovakians captured the railway station and launched an attack on the cannery. At the same time, members of a secret organization took possession of the city. By one o'clock in the morning Petropavlovsk was completely cleared of the Bolsheviks. The rebels' losses amounted to 4 - 5 people killed and several wounded. After the overthrow of Soviet power in the city, military foreman Volkov declared himself head of the Petropavlovsk region. He appointed military foreman P.I. Blokhin as chief of the district headquarters, head of the mobilization department as captain F.I. Porotikov, and commandant of the city as Lieutenant Colonel A.P. Pankratov. On May 31, 1918, the Czechs entered Petropavlovsk.
Legionnaires with Kyrgyz, Petropavlovsk region
Legionary. Petropavlovsk.
New Year in Petropavlovsk
Semipalatinsk Panorama of the city. 1919
In Semipalatinsk, the organizer of the anti-Bolshevik underground was Lieutenant I. A. Zubarev-Davydov, who arrived from Barnaul as a representative of the Provisional Siberian Government. He organized local officers under the command of Captain I. Kharchenko (pseudonym Alsky). At the same time, I. A. Zubarev-Davydov organized a commission of civilians consisting of the chairman of the Semipalatinsk City Duma F. K. Stankevich, vowels of the same Duma N. V. Vaiser, A. I. Nikolsky, P. V. Klepatsky, V. P . Koltypin and candidate for vowels I. I. Ginyat. This commission was tasked, firstly, with developing a scheme for civil administration of the region for the period until the establishment of the power of the Provisional Siberian Government and, secondly, with finding funds for an underground military organization. As funds inflowed, I. A. Zubarev-Davydov began recruiting officers and volunteers. They were attracted to the organization by staffing cells of 8 people each. Members of the organization received from 100 to 300 rubles. per month, depending on your financial situation. According to Zubarev-Davydov, the recruitment of volunteers was rather slow. People signed up for the eights rather reluctantly, and they had to be attracted mainly by monetary promises. However, by the beginning of June 1918, there were about 200 people in the ranks of the Semipalatinsk underground organization. In addition, contact was established with the Cossacks of the Semipalatinsk village and representatives from the Kyrgyz, who promised to support the organization during its action against Soviet power.
Types of Kyrgyz. Semipalatinsk.1919
At this time, the Semipalatinsk military organization also intensified its activities. The main problem for the underground remained the almost complete lack of weapons, without which they could not count on the success of the coup. Weapons could be obtained from the Red Army arsenal. The head of the arsenal, former lieutenant Pashkovsky, was not a member of the secret organization, but for the appropriate bribe he promised to transfer two hundred rifles and 10 thousand cartridges to the conspirators. As agreed, on June 3, a small group of officers led by Lieutenant A.P. Pravdenko arrived with carts to the warehouse. Here the Red Army soldiers, warned by Pashkovsky, were already waiting for them. The latter opened fire with rifles and scattered the officer detachment. Lieutenant Pravdenko was seriously wounded and, not wanting to be captured, shot himself. The result of this incident was the introduction of a state of siege in Semipalatinsk. There were mass arrests of officers and civilians. Having lost hope of raising an uprising in Semipalatinsk, I. A. Zubarev-Davydov with thirty officers went to the steppe to organize the Kazakhs.
On June 10, the Soviet leadership of Semipalatinsk, not having sufficient forces to retain power and feeling the precariousness of its position, decided to evacuate to Barnaul. The next day, an underground organization headed by captain P.I. Sidorov and captain N.D. Vinogradov appeared in the city. Its active core consisted of 15 officers and 25 Cossacks. All military power in Semipalatinsk was concentrated in the military headquarters, headed by Captain P. I. Sidorov. The headquarters began to form volunteer detachments, and at the same time announced a general mobilization of officers, military officials and cadets aged 18 to 43 years. According to the order of Captain Sidorov dated June 15, the mobilization was to be completed by 21:00. June 18. Sidorov declared all those who did not appear by the specified deadline to be deserters subject to a court-martial. All Czechoslovaks living in Semipalatinsk were invited to voluntarily join the detachment formed at the military headquarters by Ludwig Kalvoda in Semipalatinsk in mid-June 1918. A Czechoslovak detachment was formed, numbering 63 people. At the time of the anti-Bolshevik coup there were no Czechoslovak units in Semipalatinsk, so for some time Czechoslovak volunteers formed a separate detachment here.
Semipalatinsk. Types of local Kyrgyz. Summer 1919.
June 4 The Entente declares the Czechoslovak Corps part of its armed forces and declares that it will consider its disarmament as an unfriendly act towards the Entente. The situation was aggravated by pressure from Germany, which continued to demand that the Bolshevik government disarm the Czechoslovaks.
Neighborhoods of Omsk. 1919
With the consent of the Provisional Siberian Government, all troops of the Siberian Army operating at the front were operationally subordinate to the commander of the Czechoslovak Corps of the General Staff, Major General V.N. Shokorov, “until the appointment of the commander-in-chief of all allied forces.” General management and coordination of military operations began to be carried out through the headquarters of the Czechoslovak Corps.
Leaflet from the Czechoslovak command. About Czechoslovaks. 1918
Military school of the 1st reserve regiment. Omsk. December 1918
The General Governor's Palace, renamed the “House of the Republic” in March 1917, was initially occupied by Soviet authorities. After its fall in June 1918, the former palace was occupied by the Czechs and the headquarters of the Siberian Army of General A.N. Grishin-Almazov.
Then it housed the office and office of the Supreme Ruler and his Council of Ministers. According to the official version, it was within the walls of the former palace that A.V. Kolchak was proclaimed the Supreme Ruler of Russia on November 18, 1918. Having accepted the cross of Supreme Power, in his “Address to the population of Russia” he stated the following: “I will not follow either the path of reaction or the disastrous path of partisanship.
My main goal is to create a combat-ready army, defeat Bolshevism and establish law and order.”
Staff car of the letter train of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Siberia and the Far East, General Maurice Janin. Omsk, 1918
Omsk. General Zhanin, together with General Serov, inspects Czech legionnaires. 1919.
Omsk. In civil, the High Commissioner of the French Republic, Mr. Martel. Summer 1919.
Admiral A.V. Kolchak with representatives of the Allied powers at the St. George holiday in Omsk. To the right of Kolchak: General M. Janin, Deputy High Commissioner of the French Government, Comte de Martel, representative of the branch of the Czechoslovak National Council B.I. Pavlou. On the right is the State Bank building, on the right is the Government Senate. Omsk, square on the site of the current Dynamo stadium. December 9, 1918.
Omsk. Railway station. April 1919.
Omsk. Czechs with their own flag in 1919.
Tobolsk In the Innokentyevsky barracks 1918
At the beginning of June 1918, the Czechoslovaks entered Tomsk. On June 23, 1918, the remaining members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party in the city formed a new Provisional All-Siberian Government
Czechoslovak legionnaires at the Tomsk railway station
Rifle Regiment in Tomsk
Kitchen of the 7th Regiment Tomsk
Clerks of the 7th Regiment Tomsk
Regimental convoy of the 7th regiment. Tomsk
Bear mascot of the 7th Regiment Tomsk
Fun with the bear
Village on the Tomsk River
Laundry on the Ushaika River, Tomsk 1919
Scout patrol on the river near Tomsk. 1919
Football match of the 7th regiment team with the British. Tomsk 1919
Partisans of the Tomsk province, 1919.
French General Janin awards medals to distinguished legionnaires in Tomsk
Intermission No. 1
In 1917, during his stay in Kyiv, T.G. Masaryk considered the possibility of creating a mobile legionary theater. However, this idea was already realized in the Urals. During his stay in Chelyabinsk due to injury, Z. Stepanek began to attend performances at the local theater and from October 17, 1918, in the local hospital, he himself began staging small performances for recovering soldiers.
Tomsk theater for soldiers of the Czechoslovak Legion.
After this, at the ChSNS Branch in Yekaterinburg, the idea arose to gather all the creative legionnaires into a single organization. As a result, the theater department of the Information and Educational Department arose. Gradually, music, art and other departments appeared within the Information and Educational Department.
The music department initially consisted of five people. With the help of these performers, the first concert was organized at the Nevyansk plant. Later, the small troupe actively toured the cities of the Urals and Siberia, performing mainly for legionnaires, but sometimes giving concerts for local residents. The repertoire consisted mainly of works by Czech and, partly, Russian composers. The department was headed by tenor M. Demkov. Later, the idea arose of creating a legionary symphony orchestra. It was based on the orchestra of the 1st Artillery Brigade, which arrived for several concerts in Yekaterinburg in December 1918. The band’s birthday can be considered January 29, 1919, when it became part of the Information and Educational Department. The orchestra included about 60 people. Its leader was first warrant officer V. Skladal, and after the reorganization the composer R. Karel. In 1919, the orchestra's repertoire included 38 symphonic works by Beethoven, Smetana, Mozart, Dvorak, and Wagner. From Yekaterinburg, the group went on a tour of the cities of Siberia, giving 77 symphony concerts in fifteen of them during the year, including 30 concerts for the Russian public.
Musicians
Concert of musicians of the 7th Regiment, Tomsk 1919
A music and dance venue for the 7th Regiment. Tomsk 1919
On May 27, the executive committee of the district Soviet, in an address to the peasants and Cossacks, notified: “... the 6 armed echelons of Czechoslovaks located in Kurgan were presented with an ultimatum demand to be sent deep into Siberia, which, based on the order of the Council of People's Commissars, we cannot do...” From the text it followed that the local authorities do not have forces both in order to disarm the legionnaires and in order to confront them in the event of their open action. Thus, the Kurgan Bolsheviks found themselves hostages, whom the central government simply “surrendered” to the enemy.
Czech sentries dressed in clothes suitable for cold weather in Kurgan
The course of further events was most correctly outlined by Narodnaya Gazeta on June 6 (May 21): “Events in Kurgan. In connection with the demands made by the Soviet authorities on the Czechoslovaks for disarmament, on June 1, an alarming mood set in in the city of Kurgan from noon. At the request of the Soviet authorities, classes and trade ceased everywhere from 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Horse patrols warned about closing the windows with shutters, etc. At two o'clock in the morning rifle and machine-gun fire began. It turned out that the Czechoslovaks standing on the railway went on the offensive. By 3 o'clock it had already become clear that the Reds had crossed the Tobol to Bakinov's mill. At about 5 o'clock they raised a white flag and surrendered, numbering about 150 people. The largest number of Red Guards - according to rumors, about 400 people, with some leaders, fled to nearby settlements and villages. In the evening, a chase formed from Czechs and volunteers set off...”
The morning after the fall of Soviet power in the city, a detachment was created from among Russians and Czechoslovaks, which included about 100 volunteers. It was headed by second lieutenant Frantisek Grabczyk. At first, the detachment patrolled the city at night, with volunteers taking horses from city residents and returning them to their owners at the end of a six-hour watch. After the re-establishment of the district police, the need for such patrols disappeared, and the volunteers went outside the city.
Frantisek Grabczyk with the rank of brigadier general
To provide cover from Barnaul, one of the Czech leaders, Captain R. Gaida, sent a train to the Altai Railway. The soldiers, having driven the Bolsheviks away from Novonikolaevsk, slowly moved south, simultaneously restoring the previously dismantled railway track. In Russian historiography there are several versions of further events: Soviet sources say that the Czechs reached the Altai station, from where they were driven out by the Red Guards; According to the documents of the legionnaires themselves, the train only reached the Ust-Talmenskaya and Povalikha stations, after which it was recalled.
The Barnaul Red Guards, having learned about the rebellious corps, left in the direction of Novonikolaevsk. At the same time, the entire railway line was declared under martial law. It was decided to leave the Altaiskaya station as the main commandant post. It was assumed that the main line of defense would pass in the area of the Cherepanovo station, so it was decided to call the fight in this area the Cherepanovsky Front.
On June 4, Czechoslovak-White Guard units set out from Novonikolaevsk: two companies of Czechoslovaks under the command of Second Lieutenant Chesnovsky, a company of the Novonikolaevsky Regiment led by Lieutenant V. S. Sergeev and the Tomsk officer detachment of Captain N. D. Travin. General leadership was entrusted to the Czech lieutenant K. Husarek
On June 5, a train of Barnaul Red Guards left the Cherepanovo station and met the enemy train on the approaches to the Evsino station. A firefight ensued between the Reds and Whites, during which the Barnaul residents had to retreat, simultaneously destroying bridges and the railway track. On June 9, the Red Guards received information that in their rear the enemy had occupied a railway barracks, which was located about 7 kilometers to the south (now the Srednesibirskaya station). With the onset of darkness, detachments of Biychan and Barnaul railway workers quietly withdrew from their positions and moved on foot to the rear to attack the enemy’s outflanking column and restore contact with front headquarters. The Reds quickly occupied the barracks, the Whites retreated, leaving the dead and wounded on the battlefield. However, the Whites soon launched a counterattack and drove the Barnaulites away from the barracks, forcing them to retreat to the Ozerki junction and further to the Altaiskaya station.
On June 10, members of the Barnaul Military Revolutionary Committee arrived from Barnaul to Altayskaya station. They convened a meeting at which they announced the need to hold the station - an important railway junction that blocked the enemy’s path to Barnaul and Biysk. After which the Red Guards, with the help of local residents, dug trenches and occupied a new defensive line on the approaches to the station, on both sides of the bridge over the Chesnokovka River. However, the battle at the station never happened.
On the morning of June 11, news was received from Barnaul that an uprising of the White Guard underground had broken out in the city at night. It was necessary to withdraw from positions and go back to suppress the rebellion. The White Guards acted in coordination with Novonikolaevsk, and the performance in Barnaul began at the most favorable moment, when the main forces of the Reds were sent to the front. Only by returning their armed troops back to the city, the uprising was suppressed. At the same time, Czechoslovak-White Guard units occupied the Povaliha station. There they received an abandoned train of Reds and a detailed map of the outskirts of Barnaul. There they also learned that reinforcements were sailing from Novonikolaevsk along the Ob River on ships - more than 200 soldiers under the command of Colonel A. A. Budkevich. On June 12, the Whites occupied the Altaiskaya station without a fight and established their headquarters here.
Barnaul. Big bridge across the Ob. 1919
The bridge across the Ob, connecting Barnaul and the station, was occupied by the Reds. On the last span, they removed the rails and installed two cars loaded with ballast there. At the other end of the crossing, a barricade was built and a machine gun was installed. The high right bank of the river was a reliable natural barrier, which was fortified with trenches. The White Guards refrained from a direct assault on the bridge and began to fire at the Red positions using heavy guns.
Czechoslovak legionnaires of the 5th regiment at the Barnaul railway bridge over the Ob River 1918
Lieutenant K. Husarek, who led the Czechs, decided to conduct a roundabout maneuver and cross the Ob in another place. On the night of June 14, a company of soldiers crossed the river near the village of Gonba, 20 km northwest of Barnaul, and united with the forces of Colonel Budkevich and the Barnaul rebels, who were by that time standing near the village of Vlasikha. Thus, the city was surrounded by a dense semi-ring of forces - in the north there was the squad of Captain Erokhin, in the south - the Novonikolaevsky detachment of Lieutenant Lukin. In addition, the Novonikolaevites were joined by a detachment of Tomsk volunteers led by Captain Stepanov, who managed to cross the river in the Bobrovsky backwater area
On the evening of June 14, an attack on the city began simultaneously from all directions. Under the cover of artillery fire, the Whites gradually squeezed the semi-ring. The defenders were running out of ammunition, so the leaders of the provincial revolutionary committee, M.K. Tsaplin and I.V. Prisyagin, decided to leave Barnaul and make their way by rail to the Aleyskaya station.
Soldiers of the 8th company of the 7th Czechoslovak regiment, which took part in the capture of Barnaul
After the capture of Barnaul, about 200 Red Guards were captured. The very next day, the executions began - the surviving Hungarian internationalists were killed first, after which member of the revolutionary committee N.D. Malyukov, who did not have time to leave the city, was executed. The rest were taken into custody. The power of the Provisional Siberian Government was established in the city. On June 16, the commander of the Siberian Army, Colonel A. N. Grishin-Almazov, arrived in the city.
Barnaul. Czech armored train. Summer 1919.
Barnaul. Girl Scout Troop. 1919
Barnaul. Bathing. Summer 1919.
Barnaul. A column of Russian troops equipped with English cannons. 1919
On June 19, 1918, the city of Biysk came under the control of Czechoslovak troops and the Siberian government
On the Nikolaev-Novo-Semipalatinsk line. Biysk station. Summer 1919.
Intermission No. 2
Klyukvennaya, now the city of Uyar, in 1918 was a small station with a population of several hundred people. However, it was here that the largest battle of the initial period of the Civil War in the Yenisei region took place. After the fall of Kansk, the largest outpost in the east of the region, only here it was possible to close Krasnoyarsk from invasion of the city by invaders. Therefore, the Bolsheviks announced a call for volunteers, and even women signed up. Those of them who were not taken to Klyukvennaya or Mariinsk were trained in military affairs (rifle handling) at the Karl Marx Club. The classes were taught by the Baltic statesman Brutkus.
Czech sources report that there were about 2,100 Reds, "excellently armed", with many machine guns and two cannons. The interventionists estimate the number of their units at 400 people. And, naturally, they lack weapons and ammunition. According to the available memoirs of the Red Guards, the total number of Soviet troops near Klyukvenna did not exceed 1,100 people. Of these, there are 300-350 fighters in Yakov Dubrovinsky’s “detachment”, about 300 at the Rybinsky Bridge, and up to 400 people in Klyukvenny itself. There were also small detachments of Achinsk and Minusinsk people. Early in the morning of June 16, Czech units approached Klyukvennaya. The “detour detachment” of Warrant Officer Shvets set out. Telephone wires were cut near Gromadsk to deprive the Reds of communication with Krasnoyarsk. Then the attack of the interventionists began. Lieutenant Janechek with the 4th company and two platoons of the 2nd company crossed the Rybnaya River and reached the right flank of the Soviet positions. Lieutenant Hasek with the 1st company and two other platoons was supposed to take control of the railway bridge. An improvised Czech armored train stood in front of the bridge. Strong rifle fire was opened on him. The locomotive distracted the Reds. At this time, Janecek and his group attacked the right wing of the Soviet positions. However, it was not possible to break the resistance straight away. The Reds' machine guns pinned the Czechs to the ground. However, they continued to crawl forward. Lieutenant Colonel Ushakov personally led the soldiers into the attack. ..
However, the Czechs failed to destroy part of the forces of the Klyukva Front. At that time, a large detachment of Yakov Dubrovinsky was still in Rybinsk - about 250 people with two machine guns. In addition, some of the Reds retreated to Balai station. An unenviable fate awaited those who fled alone. “The peasants caught them, disarmed them and often killed them.
Parade in Klyukvenny on the occasion of victory in battle
In the summer of 1918, generally businesslike and friendly relations developed between the leaders of the Siberian Army and the Czechoslovak Corps. However, as the Siberian Army strengthened, its command began to be burdened by its dependence on the Czechoslovaks. This became especially acute at the end of August, when General Shokorov was replaced as commander of the Czechoslovak Corps by the Czech General J. Syrov. Disagreements on issues of operational command between the headquarters of the Siberian Army and the Czechoslovak Corps were one of the reasons for the resignation of Grishin-Almazov.
Jan Syrovy, commander of Czech troops in Russia
The leaders of the Czechoslovak Corps are General J. Syrov and General S. Chechek.
Czechoslovak Corps in Western Siberia in 1919
In Siberia. Training of Czech legionnaires. Summer 1919.
A trolley derailed by a partisan mine. Trans-Siberian Railway, spring 1919
In Siberia. Ambulance transport brought wounded Czechs to the station. 1919.
Siberia. Train on the front line. 1919
Czech cavalryman.1919
Siberia. Czech artillerymen. summer 1919.
In Siberia. Czech cavalrymen. 1919
The uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps in May 1918 occupies a period in Russian history that, in the general catastrophe of fratricide, seems insignificant and hardly noticeable. However, it started the civil war. The beginning of the creation of the corps was of a patriotic nature, and the end of its stay on Russian territory was painted in black tones of punitive operations against civilians, murders, open robbery, and looting.
The situation of the Czechs and Slovaks in 1914
At the beginning of the First World War, the Czechoslovaks did not have their own state; its original territory was part of Austria-Hungary, where the local population was treated extremely unkindly. A large number of Czechoslovaks lived on the territory of Russia, who wished to fight for the independence of their native country at the beginning of the war.
After the outbreak of hostilities, Czechoslovak patriots sought to join the fight against Austria-Hungary, which, together with Germany, was part of the Triple Alliance. Czechs living in Russia formed the “Czech National Committee”.
He turned to Emperor Nicholas II with a request for assistance in the formation of the Czech squad, which, fighting as part of the Russian army, would fight for the freedom of the homeland. The appeal received approval for the creation of a military unit. It was this event that subsequently led to the creation of the Czechoslovak Corps and its uprising on Russian territory. 
Creation of the Czech squad as part of the Russian army
On the last day of July 1914, the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire decided to create a Czech squad. Two months later the banner was consecrated. In October 1914, she went to the front as part of the 3rd Army, under the command of a Bulgarian by birth, General Radko Dmitriev. The squad took part in the battles for Galicia, where it proved itself to be the best.
The Czechs and Slovaks, participating in the war on the side of Austria-Hungary, surrendered en masse to the countries participating in the war on the side of the Entente. A huge number of prisoners of war accumulated in Russia. Most of them expressed a desire to join the Czech squad.
Due to numerous requests, Grand Duke Nicholas, the emperor’s uncle, being at that time the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, issued a decree in May 1915 authorizing the formation of military units in the Russian army from among captured Czechs, Slovaks and Poles.
At the end of 1915, the Czechoslovakian regiment was formed, bearing the name of Jan Hus, which by the beginning of 1916 turned into a brigade. It consisted of three regiments with a total number of 3.5 thousand military personnel. The brigade, as before, was part of the Russian army and its commanders were Russian officers. The presence of a large number of foreign military personnel in Russia and subsequent events in the country led to the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps in May 1918.
The idea of creating a Czechoslovak state was voiced not only in Russia, but also in Europe. The liberal intelligentsia, who settled in Paris, created the ChSNS, whose leaders were E. Benes, T. Mosarik, M. Stefanik. His goal was the revival of the independent state of Czechoslovakia. They made efforts to obtain permission from the Entente countries to create a national army that would help them fight Austria-Hungary.
The fact is that similar Czechoslovak military formations operated both on the western front and on the eastern front. The ChSNS achieved official recognition by them and became the official center to which all military units on the territory of the Entente countries, including Russia, were subordinate. 
yly to the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps. In turn, the Bolshevik government perceived the Czechoslovaks as interventionists.
Two ways to return home
After the October Revolution, the position of the Czechoslovak Corps was unenviable. The legionnaires sincerely wanted to leave Russia, as they had their own goals. They could do this in two ways: through Murmansk and Arkhangelsk or the Far East. The first option is the shortest, they immediately rejected it, justifying it by the dominance of German submarines in the Baltic and North Seas.
The second option, the longest, suited both sides. The Bolsheviks did not want to have a large combat-ready foreign military unit on their territory, and agreed to any conditions. In addition, the situation in the country was heating up every day. On the Don, which did not recognize the Bolsheviks, its own government was created and the formation of the white movement was in full swing. France demanded that Russia transport the legionnaires to their homeland. Therefore, the port of Vladivostok and Transsib was chosen. 
Agreement on sending home
The primary deployment of the Czechoslovak Corps was near Zhitomir. Events in Ukraine, the signing of a peace treaty by the Rada with Germany and Austria-Hungary, required the urgent movement of the Czechs inland. The place of their new deployment was Poltava. Near Bakhmach, the Czechs, together with the Russians, held back the German offensive.
In Penza on March 26, 1918, an agreement was signed between the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, representatives of the ChSNS in Russia and the Czechoslovak Corps. The agreement stipulated that the shipment would take place from Penza to Vladivostok. Movement throughout the country will be carried out not as a military unit, but as a trip of free citizens. The Bolsheviks made concessions and agreed that a small amount of weapons for the purpose of self-defense should remain with the legionnaires.
The number of weapons was stipulated in the agreement; for each echelon there should be one company, consisting of 168 people with rifles and 300 cartridges for each, one machine gun with 1200 cartridges. It was decided that the evacuation would take place in 63 trains of 40 cars each. The first train was sent on March 26, 1918 and a month later safely reached Vladivostok. Trains with Czechoslovaks stretched along the entire length of the Trans-Siberian Railway from Penza to Vladivostok. In total, about 60 thousand people needed to be transferred.
Reasons for the start of the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps
The reasons are considered to be a domestic conflict between Hungarian prisoners of war and legionnaires. It consisted of a piece of iron being thrown from a passing carriage, which wounded the legionnaire. After this, stopping the train, the Czechs carried out lynching on the culprit. The Red Army intervened in the matter and tried to disarm the Czechs and understand the causes of the incident. But the Czechs took this as a desire to disarm them and hand them over to Austria-Hungary for reprisals.
At the same time, the situation in the Far East sharply deteriorated. The Bolshevik government learned of secret Allied negotiations about the beginning of Japanese intervention. The double game of the Entente countries was obvious. The Japanese, taking advantage of the current situation in the country, landed troops in Vladivostok.
In these difficult conditions, the mutiny of the Czechoslovak Corps turned out to be a well-planned action. A congress of Czechoslovak legionnaires took place in Chelyabinsk, at which it was decided not to surrender their weapons. In Moscow, representatives of the ChSNS were arrested and issued an order to surrender their weapons, but it was already too late. The uprising covered almost the entire territory through which the Trans-Siberian Railway passed. The rebels captured entire cities; the Bolshevik Soviets did not have sufficient forces to resist the Czechoslovaks. 
Who benefited from the mutiny of the Czechoslovak Corps?
At the time of the uprising, the creation of the White Army was intensively underway. The Red Army was at the stage of formation. In Russia there was no large organized force capable of resisting the Czechoslovaks at that time. Relations with the Bolsheviks became simply hostile; for them they were interventionists.
The command of the corps was exercised by a French general. Members of the Entente could not forgive the Bolsheviks for leaving the war. Czech control of the Trans-Siberian Railway served as a lever of influence over the Bolsheviks, which allowed them to manipulate and control the situation. The Entente issued an ultimatum in which it stated that the disarmament of the corps would be considered an unfriendly act towards the allies.
The German side was extremely uninterested in the evacuation of the Czechoslovak corps, which demanded that the Bolsheviks return them and hand them over as traitors. The Bolsheviks found themselves in a difficult situation. The Czechoslovaks eliminated the Soviets in large cities along the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Governments hostile to the Bolsheviks with their armies began to form in them. In Samara, on June 8, 1918, a government was formed - the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch); on June 23, 1918, the Provisional Siberian Government was created in Omsk. The leadership of the corps issues an order in which they take the side of the White armies and undertake to build an anti-German front in Russia. In other words, they declared war on the Bolsheviks and sided with the White governments.
Situation on the Trans-Siberian Railway
The cities were occupied by the White Czechs: Syzran, Samara, Stavropol (Tolyatti), Kazan, Kuznetsk, Bugulma, Simbirsk, Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, Tomsk, Omsk, Chita, Irkutsk. The situation for the Bolsheviks was becoming threatening. The uprising of the soldiers of the Czechoslovak Corps is considered to be the beginning of the Civil War in Russia, which claimed the lives of millions of its citizens. The newly formed one was thrown into the fight against the White armies and detachments of White Czechs.
In September, Kazan, Syzran, Simbirsk and Samara were recaptured. The Belochekhs were not content to fight in the Urals and the Volga region. They began to retreat to the east, trying not to take part in battles with the Red Army and performing the role of guarding the railway, as well as participating in punitive operations carried out by Kolchak’s detachments.
The formation of independent Czechoslovakia on October 28, 1918 made them want to return home as soon as possible. At the beginning of 1919, they concentrated directly along the entire railway, blocking any traffic along it. This played a cruel joke on the retreating army of Admiral Kolchak, the cars whose fuel were taken away to transport numerous goods looted during punitive operations. Cars and fuel were also taken away from the civilian population, forcing them to walk along the railroad in the snowy and frosty winter of 1919-1920 along with Kolchak’s retreating army, leaving frozen corpses and thousands of graves. 
Flight to the East
Demoralization and decay are the results of the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps. Four thousand Czechoslovaks found their rest in Russia. In the 90s, when there was talk about the construction of monuments to fallen legionnaires in Siberian cities, the population spoke out against it, remembering the atrocities and robberies committed by Czechoslovak and especially Polish legionnaires, as well as Kolchak’s punitive detachments.
Admiral Kolchak, who was allocated one carriage, along with Russia's gold reserves, became a hostage to the White Czechs. His fate was predetermined and, at the right opportunity, he was handed over to the Bolsheviks in exchange for passage through the Circum-Baikal railway tunnels.
From December 1919 to December 1920 72,600 people were evacuated from the port of Vladivostok. The command of the Czechoslovak Corps, finding itself in a difficult political situation on the territory of a foreign country, was unable to orient itself and resist outside influence.
CZECHOSLOVAK CORPS AND KOMUCH
There was a consolidation of anti-Bolshevik forces in the east of the country. The uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps in May 1918 played a major role in their activation.
This corps was formed in Russia during the World War from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hungarian army to participate in the war against Germany. In 1918, the corps located on Russian territory was preparing to be sent to Western Europe through the Far East. In May 1918, the Entente prepared an anti-Bolshevik uprising of the corps, the echelons of which stretched along the railway from Penza to Vladivostok. The uprising activated anti-Bolshevik forces everywhere, inciting them to armed struggle, and created local governments.
One of them was the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) in Samara, created by the Social Revolutionaries. He declared himself a temporary revolutionary power, which, according to the plan of its creators, was supposed to cover all of Russia and become part of the Constituent Assembly, designed to become a legitimate power. The chairman of the Komuch, Socialist-Revolutionary V.K. Volsky, proclaimed the goal of preparing conditions for the real unity of Russia with the socialist Constituent Assembly at its head. This idea of Volsky was not supported by part of the leadership of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. The Right SRs also ignored Komuch and headed to Omsk to prepare there for the creation of an all-Russian government in a coalition with the Cadets instead of the Samara Komuch. In general, anti-Bolshevik forces were hostile to the idea of a Constituent Assembly. Komuch demonstrated his commitment to democracy, without having a specific socio-economic program. According to its member V.M. Zenzinov, the Committee tried to follow a program equally distant from both the socialist experiments of Soviet power and the restoration of the past. But equidistance did not work out. Property nationalized by the Bolsheviks was returned to the old owners. In the territory controlled by Komuch, all banks were denationalized in July, and the denationalization of industrial enterprises was announced. Komuch created his own armed forces - the People's Army. It was based on the Czechs, who recognized his power.
Political leaders of the Czechoslovaks began to press Komuch to unite with other anti-Bolshevik governments, but its members, considering themselves the only heirs to the legitimate power of the Constituent Assembly, resisted for some time. At the same time, the confrontation between Komuch and the coalition Provisional Government that emerged in Omsk from representatives of the Socialist Revolutionaries and Cadets grew. It came to the point of declaring a customs war on Komuch. Ultimately, the members of Komuch, in order to strengthen the front of the anti-Bolshevik forces, capitulated, agreeing to the creation of a unified government. An act was signed on the formation of the Provisional All-Russian Government - the Directory, signed on the part of Komuch by its chairman Volsky.
At the beginning of October, Komuch, without the support of the population, adopted a resolution on his liquidation. Soon the capital of Komuch Samara was occupied by the Red Army.
Encyclopedia "Around the World"
ORDER OF THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSIONER FOR MILITARY AFFAIRS ON THE DISARMAMENT OF THE CZECHOSLOVAKS
All Soviets are obliged, under penalty of liability, to immediately disarm the Czechoslovakians. Every Czechoslovak who is found armed on the railway line must be shot on the spot; every train containing at least one armed person must be unloaded from the wagons and imprisoned in a prisoner of war camp. Local military commissars undertake to immediately carry out this order; any delay will be tantamount to dishonorable treason and will bring severe punishment on the perpetrators. At the same time, reliable forces are sent to the rear of the Czechoslovaks, tasked with teaching those who disobey a lesson. Treat honest Czechoslovaks who will surrender their weapons and submit to Soviet power as brothers and provide them with all possible support. All railway workers must be informed that not a single armed Czechoslovak carriage must move east. Whoever yields to violence and assists the Czechoslovaks in their advance to the east will be severely punished.
This order should be read to all Czechoslovak trains and communicated to all railway workers at the location of the Czechoslovaks. Each military commissar must report the execution. No. 377.
People's Commissar for Military Affairs L. Trotsky.
Quoted from the book: Parfenov P.S. Civil war in Siberia. M., 1924.
NOTE OF THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSIONER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS CHICHERIN ABOUT THE CZECHOSLOVAKS
The People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs transmitted a note with the following content to the head of the British mission, the French Consul General, the American Consul General and the Italian Consul General:
“The disarmament of the Czechoslovaks cannot in any case be considered as an act of unfriendliness towards the powers of the Entente. It is caused primarily by the fact that Russia, as a neutral state, cannot tolerate armed detachments on its territory that do not belong to the army of the Soviet Republic.
The immediate reason for the use of decisive and strict measures in order to disarm the Czechoslovaks was their own actions. The Czechoslovak revolt began in Chelyabinsk on May 26, where the Czechoslovaks, having captured the city, stole weapons, arrested and displaced local authorities, and in response to the demand to stop the atrocities and disarm, they met military units with fire. The further development of the rebellion led to the occupation of Penza, Samara, Novo-Nikolaevsk, Omsk and other cities by the Czechoslovaks. Czechoslovakians everywhere acted in alliance with the White Guards and counter-revolutionary Russian officers. In some places there are French officers among them.
In all points of the counter-revolutionary Czechoslovak revolt, institutions abolished by the Workers' and Peasants' Soviet Republic are being restored. The Soviet government took the most decisive measures to suppress the Czechoslovak rebellion by armed force and their unconditional disarmament. No other outcome is acceptable for the Soviet Government.
The People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs expresses confidence that, after all of the above, representatives of the four powers of the Entente will not consider the disarmament of the Czechoslovak troops under their protection as an act of unfriendliness, but, on the contrary, recognize the necessity and expediency of the measures taken by the Soviet Government against the rebels.
The People's Commissariat expresses, in addition, the hope that representatives of the four powers of the Agreement will not hesitate to condemn the Czechoslovak detachments for their counter-revolutionary armed rebellion, which is the most open and decisive interference in the internal affairs of Russia.”
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Chicherin.
OVERTHROWING SOVIET AUTHORITY IN SIBERIA
From Novonikolaevsk - Mariinsk. In all cities, villages - citizens of Siberia. The hour to save the homeland has struck! Provisional Government of Sibirsk. The Regional Duma overthrew the Bolshevik government and took control into its own hands. Most of Siberia is occupied, citizens join the ranks of the people's army. The Red Guard is disarming. Bolshevik power was arrested. In Novonikolaevsk, the coup ended in 40 minutes. Authorities in the city were taken over by those authorized by the Provisional Siberian Government, who invited the city and zemstvo councils to begin work.
There were no casualties. The coup was met with sympathy. The coup was carried out by a local detachment of the Siberian Government with the assistance of Czechoslovak units. Our tasks: defending the homeland and saving the revolution through the All-Siberian Constituent Assembly. Citizens! Overthrow the power of the rapists immediately, not for a minute. Restore the work of zemstvo and city governments dispersed by the Bolsheviks. Provide assistance to government troops and helping Czechoslovak troops.
Commissioners of the Provisional Siberian Government.
Mariinsky Committee of Public Safety.
Telegram from the representatives of the Siberian Government on the overthrow of Soviet power
DENIKIN'S OPINION
As for g.g. Massarik and Max, they, wholly devoted to the idea of the national revival of their people and their struggle against Germanism, in the confusing conditions of Russian reality, were unable to find the right path and, being under the influence of Russian revolutionary democracy, shared its hesitations, delusions and suspicions.
Life took cruel revenge for these mistakes. It soon forced both national forces, which so stubbornly avoided interfering “in internal Russian affairs,” to take part in our internecine strife, placing them in a hopeless position between the German army and Bolshevism.
Already in February, during the German attack on Ukraine, the Czechoslovaks, amid the general shameful flight of Russian troops, would wage fierce battles against the Germans and their former allies - the Ukrainians on the side of the Bolsheviks. Then they will move towards the endless Siberian route, fulfilling the fantastic plan of the French command - the transfer of a 50,000-strong corps to the Western European theater, separated from the eastern one by nine thousand miles of railway track and oceans. In the spring they will take up arms against their recent allies - the Bolsheviks, who betray them to the Germans. In the summer, Allied policy will turn them back to form a front on the Volga. And for a long time they will actively participate in the Russian tragedy, causing among the Russian people an alternating feeling of anger and gratitude...
A.I. Denikin. Essays on Russian Troubles
JAROSLAV HASHEK AND THE CZECHOSLOVAK CORPS
During the Civil War in 1918, Hasek was on the side of the Reds and was in Samara, participating in its defense from the White Army and the suppression of the anarchist rebellion.
And it all started with the fact that the future writer did not want to take part in the First World War. He tried in every possible way to avoid military service, but in the end, in 1915, he was enlisted in the Austrian army and brought to the front in a prisoner's carriage. However, Hasek soon voluntarily surrendered to Russian captivity.
He ended up in the Darnitsky prisoner of war camp near Kyiv, then he was redirected to Totsky near Buzuluk. Inspired by the ideas of communism, at the beginning of 1918 he joined the RCP (b) and stood under the banner of the Bolsheviks as the Civil War flared up in Russia.
At the end of March 1918, the Czechoslovak section of the RCP(b) in Moscow sent Jaroslav Hasek to Samara at the head of a group of comrades to form an international detachment of the Red Army and carry out explanatory work among the soldiers of the Czechoslovak corps.
Arriving in Samara, Hasek launched a campaign among the corps soldiers and other Czechs and Slovaks who were in prisoner-of-war camps or working in factories. Members of Hasek's group, meeting the trains with legionnaires at the station, explained to them the policies of the Soviet government, exposed the counter-revolutionary plans of the corps command, and called on the soldiers not to leave for France, but to help the Russian proletariat in the fight against the bourgeoisie.
To work on attracting soldiers to the Red Army, the “Czech Military Department for the formation of Czech-Slovak detachments under the Red Army” was created. It was located on the second floor of the San Remo Hotel (now Kuibysheva St., 98). There was also a section of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the apartment of Yaroslav Hasek.
During April and May, a detachment of 120 fighters from Czechs and Slovaks was formed. Jaroslav Hasek became its political commissar. It was assumed that over the next two months the detachment would increase to a battalion, and possibly a regiment. But this could not be accomplished: at the end of May, a mutiny of the Czechoslovak corps began. During the days of the White Czechs’ attack on Samara, Yaroslav Hasek was located on the outskirts of the Samara railway station.
Early in the morning of June 8, 1918, under the pressure of superior forces of the White Czechs, the detachments of the defenders of Samara, including a detachment of Czechoslovak internationalists, were forced to leave the city. At the very last moment, Gashey went to the San Remo Hotel to take or destroy lists of volunteers and other documents of the military department and section of the RKB (b) so that they would not fall into the hands of enemies. He managed to destroy the materials, but it was no longer possible to return to the station to the detachment - the station was occupied by the White Czechs, and the detachment was surrounded by railway.
With great difficulty and risk, Hasek got out of the city. For about two months he hid with peasants in the villages, then he managed to cross the front. Hasek's activity as a Red Army agitator in the Czech environment was short-lived, but did not go unnoticed. In July, that is, just three months after arriving in Samara, in Omsk the field court of the Czechoslovak Legion issued an arrest warrant for Hasek as a traitor to the Czech people. For several months he was forced, hiding behind a certificate that he was “the crazy son of a German colonist from Turkestan,” to hide from patrols.
Samara local historian Alexander Zavalny gives the following story about this stage of the writer’s life: “Once, when he was hiding with his friends at one of the Samara dachas, a Czech patrol appeared. The officer decided to interrogate the unknown person, to which Hasek, playing an idiot, told how he saved a Czech officer at the Farm Laborer station: “I’m sitting and thinking. Suddenly an officer. Just like you, so delicate and puny. She purrs a German song and seems to dance like an old maid on Easter. Thanks to my proven sense of smell, I immediately see that the officer is under attack. I see he's heading straight for the restroom I just came out of. I sat down nearby. I sit for ten, twenty, thirty minutes. The officer doesn’t come out...” Then Hasek depicted how he went into the toilet and, pushing apart the rotten boards, pulled out a drunken loser from the outhouse: “By the way, do you know what award they will give me for saving the life of a Czech officer?”
Only by September Hasek crossed the front line, and in Simbirsk he again joined the Red Army units. Together with the soldiers of the 5th Army, he walked from the banks of the Volga to the Irtysh. At the end of 1920, Jaroslav Hasek returned to his homeland, where he died on January 3, 1923, still very young, about 4 months shy of 40 years old.
