The author of this pamphlet, Colonel C. M. Shumsky-Solomonov, is an
officer of the Russian Army, a distinguished soldier and an authority
on military problems. Col. Shumsky-Solomonov was one of the defenders
of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War, and as a military expert
of the Petrograd daily, "Birjeviya Viedomosti", he was well known not
only in Russia but also throughout Europe.
The purpose of this pamphlet is to present Russia's part in the recent
War. Russia at present lies in seas of blood and tears because of
her enormous sacrifices in the struggle against Prussian militarism.
The nightmare of Bolshevism was able to overtake Russia because she
was exhausted by three years of active participation in the War,
during which her casualties reached 12,000,000, and her economic life
became overstrained and partially destroyed. Russia's present pitiful
condition is the result of her self-sacrificing services to humanity.
According to the data quoted by Col. Shumsky-Solomonov, of the
12,000,000 Russian casualties in the recent War, not less than
3,000,000 were in dead. "Russia's losses," says Col. Shumsky-Solomonov,
"are more than twice those of France, four-five times those of England,
and more than thirty-five times those of America. Russia's losses are
more than twice the total strength of the British Army, and three-four
times all the forces mustered by the United States. The number of
Russia's casualties is larger than the total population of any of
the following European countries: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Portugal,
Belgium, Holland or the Balkan States."
If Russia had not sacrificed 3,000,000 of her best youth, now sleeping
on the battle-fields of Europe, a Prussian bayonet would now be ruling
the world. As Col. Shumsky-Solomonov points out, the great role
played by Russia in the recent struggle "became apparent at the very
beginning of the War, in the important aid she rendered in frustrating
the initial and most dangerous plan of the Germans, by her early
offensive in aid of the Allies. Russia, having diverted against herself
the entire Austrian army and part of the German, at the time of the
battle on the Marne, through her offensive in East Prussia and Galicia,
deprived the enemy of the opportunity to realize the fundamental idea
of Moltke's plan to fling 'all forces into France.'"
"At the following attempt of the enemy to find a decision in France,
to break through to Calais, at Ypres," says Col. Shumsky-Solomonov,
"Russia, by the blows she delivered in Galicia, at Warsaw and in East
Prussia, contributed to the early termination of this second offensive
in France, so dangerous to England, and compelled the Germans for more
than a year to abstain from their main operations on the main decisive
front of the War--in France.
"In 1915 Russia, having shouldered alone the whole burden of the
struggle against Germany, Austria and Turkey, although forced to
abandon Poland, still gave the Allies the opportunity to prepare
throughout a whole year for the coming German offensive at Verdun.
In 1916 Russia, thanks to the Brusilov offensive, saved Italy at
that critical moment when the Austrians, through their successful
offensive from Tyrol, in the rear of the Italians, threatened to
cut off a considerable portion of the Italian Army, at the same
time menacing Venice. Together with this, Russia by this offensive
greatly facilitated the operations of the Allies on the Somme, and was
instrumental in the final clearing of the Verdun forts.
"In the same year Russia took upon herself the blows of Mackensen's and
Falkenhayn's armies, which had invaded Roumania, stopped the further
advance of the Germans, and undertook the defense of a considerable
stretch of the Roumanian front."
In the beginning of the War, in August, 1914, there were, in addition
to the Austrian Army, only 14 German divisions engaged on the Russian
front. During the first Russian advance into Eastern Prussia, the
German General Staff was obliged, on the eve of the battle of the
Marne, to transfer 6 additional divisions to the Eastern front.
The number of German divisions engaged on the Russian front grew
continuously, and in October, 1914, there were 25 divisions, in
November--33 divisions, in December--43 divisions, and in January,
1915,--53 German divisions on the Russian front. The role played by
Russia and the services the Russian Armies rendered in the struggle
against Prussian Imperialism can be seen further from the fact that
during the spring of 1917 there were 162 German and Austrian divisions
engaged on the Russian front alone, while on all the other Allied
fronts together there were 205 German and Austrian divisions.[1]
To this it must be added that Russia entered the War unprepared for a
modern struggle. As Col. Shumsky-Solomonov points out, "The Russian
Army consisted of millions, but bayonets and guns it had only for
one-tenth of its number." General Brusilov once said: "Our soldiers
had no shells with which to blast their way across barbed-wire
entanglements before an attack; so it was necessary for them to break
down the wires with their own bodies and thus to form a bridge for
the next attacking column." In the fall of 1917 the Russian Armies
collapsed after months of intensive German and Bolshevist propaganda,
but this cannot minimize the great heroism of the Russian soldiers
during the first three years of the War, heroism without which the
alliance of the democratic nations would never have been able to defeat
the Prussian militarism.
A. J. SACK
_Director of the Russian Information
Bureau in the U. S._
May 25, 1920.