MORE INTRIGUES
While the loyal Russian officers were being murdered in their beds,
other events not less important were happening. When Admiral Koltchak
assumed supreme authority the Directorate was surrounded by a party of
Royalist officers as turbulent and lawless as Trotsky himself. Private
code messages passed between these officers as freely as if they already
had the power in their own hands. The first intimation that Koltchak had
of these conspiracies was a code message from General Evanoff Renoff to
General Beloff, General Bolderoff's Chief of Staff, which unfolded many
of the aspirations of these men, and showed their objects to be
exclusively personal. I read these messages with great interest, as they
gave me an excellent insight into the mainsprings of the revolution and
incidentally into the character of the average Russian officer. General
Antonovsky, of the old Russian Military Academy, who also assisted in
the drafting of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with the Germans, was a
participant in the scheme, and was within an ace of becoming the
admiral's Chief of Staff. Everything was working splendidly, when the
cipher message from Renoff opened the ball. Beloff was sent to the east,
and Antonovsky to the south, and the Absolutists became broken up.
On February 1 my liaison officer informed me that as he waited in the
corridor of headquarters, General Beloff came out of General Lebediff's
room. A little later General Antonovsky came out of another room, and
then these two were suddenly joined by a certain Cossack general of a
very truculent type. I knew that this boded badly for order, and I
warned Koltchak's young aide-de-camp. Shortly after it was reported to
me that an attempt had been made to exchange a sham guard for the real
one at the Supreme Governor's residence. That night I held our direct
wire from Colonel Johnson to my ear till 12.30 A.M., and found that it
was tapped by Russian Headquarters. General Knox had got to know things,
and took certain action, with the result that I sent my officer to
Russian Headquarters with instructions to inform General Lebediff we
were anxious for the Supreme Governor's safety; that if any harm was
contemplated against him we should hold him responsible unless he made
us acquainted with the danger in time to avert it; further, that if the
Absolutist officers thought they could murder Admiral Koltchak and
proclaim an absolute Monarchy without the sanction of the people of
Russia they were mistaken; that whoever, whether high or low, attempted
to destroy the present Government and throw Russia back into violence
and anarchy would be treated as enemies by the British soldiers. General
Lebediff answered that he knew of no special danger threatening Admiral
Koltchak at the moment, but he thanked Colonel Ward for his offer to
help protect the Government in case of necessity.
The conspirators broke up at once, but the cunningest of the lot
remained to weave again by social strategy the continuous web of Russian
disorder. We knew that there were elements at work for a
counter-revolution quite uncontrolled by, but acting with, the
cognisance of officials of the Koltchak Administration. In revolutions
sudden outbursts on the part of even a small party may soon jeopardise
the whole organisation of State. Colonel Johnson and myself agreed that
it was necessary to concentrate our forces, and in approaching the
Russian authorities on this subject, we added further to the
demoralisation of those who were in the conspiracy. We protested that it
was our own safety that we had in view, but the conspirators did not
believe us. I knew that the admiral's train had been for some days
standing ready to take him to the front. On February 3 Omsk was informed
that the important Japanese Mission (previously referred to) had started
from Irkutsk on the last stage of its journey to the Supreme Governor.
The governor's aide-de-camp informed me at the same time that the
admiral was starting for the front at 5 P.M. on February 7.
General Knox was anxious that there should be no evidence of weakening
in our support of the Omsk Government, as in case of disorder our
position was by no means secure. After consultation it was decided to
offer the admiral a personal guard for his journey, to consist of fifty
men and one officer from the Hampshire Regiment. This was accepted and
referred to the Chief of Staff for confirmation. It was then reported to
General Ganin and the French Staff. They at once protested that to have
a purely English guard would lower French prestige in the eyes of the
Russians. They quite agreed that there ought to be a guard, but it must
be half English and half French, and to this we at once agreed. We
therefore reduced our number to twenty-five. Then, however, the French
Staff pointed out that they had no troops in Omsk, and they could not
leave the Staff without a cook. The greatest number of orderlies they
could spare was nine, so it was suggested that the guard should consist
of forty-one English and nine French soldiers. This took the
negotiators' breath away entirely; the first proposal was destructive of
French prestige, the second was enough to destroy France altogether!
Really France is much too beautiful and gallant a country to have this
sort of stuff put forward on her behalf, but there it was. So the
admiral's guard consisted of nine soldiers with one officer of each
nationality--twenty all told.
One point we did get home on. At the time appointed for the admiral's
departure, an English guard of honour miraculously appeared on the
scene, together with Russian and Czech guards. There _could_ be no
French--yet French prestige continued to stand just as high as ever it
did. I give these facts in the most friendly spirit, but with a hope
that English officers will always understand that, however much we smile
at the peculiar gyrations of the word "prestige" as understood by our
Continental neighbours, it is very real to them, and strange exhibitions
of it are seen on occasions.
The Supreme Governor had arrived and shaken hands with the Russian,
English and Czech representatives, including Sir Charles Eliot, the
British High Commissioner, and General Bowes, the Chief of the British
Military Mission to the Czecho-Slovaks. The French representative was
late. When the ceremonial was nearly complete, a French officer (not
above the rank of captain) elbowed his way to the front and vigorously
brushed aside the British High Commissioner and general, and stood with
his back towards them as though they were mere outside spectators who
had no business there. The same evening the incident was being discussed
amongst a group of Russian and English officers, when a Russian officer
of the highest position observed, "You English have the queerest notion
of national prestige of all the countries I have been so far acquainted
with. Any ordinary Russian, Kirghis, Tartar, or Mongolian officer seeing
a French captain brush aside the representatives and generals of another
state would instantly decide that he only did so not because of want of
politeness, which one-half the world does not understand, but because
the nation to which he belongs was so great and powerful there was no
need to be deferential to any of the others, and especially so to the
state whose representatives allowed themselves to be so easily brushed
aside."
We had many conferences upon the condition of the Russian workman, and
whether it was possible for the Allies to do anything to help them.
British officers were making desperate efforts to organise and equip
forces capable of dealing a death-blow to the Bolsheviks in the early
spring. General Knox worked like a Trojan, and gave more inspiration to
the Russian Government than all the other Allied representatives put
together. In fact, without his sagacity and determination we should have
been better employed at home. He travelled from "Vlady" to Omsk, from
Omsk to "Vlady," as though the 5,000-mile journey was just a run from
London to Birmingham. His great strength was that he made up his mind on
a certain course, and stuck to it, while everyone around him could never
decide upon anything for long. If you want anything done, don't have
Allies. Allies are all right when a powerful enemy is striking you or
them; it is then quite simple; mere self-preservation is sufficient to
hold you together for common protection. Let the danger pass, let the
roar of conflict recede in the distance, and Allies become impotent for
any purpose except spying on each other and obstructing the work in
hand. There was no evidence that anyone, except the English, was doing
anything to smooth the way for the new Russian Government, but by sheer
energy General Knox had brought together personnel and stores sufficient
to justify belief in the early success of his plans. Then there suddenly
arose another sinister figure which threatened to upset all our
calculations--namely, a well-timed revolt of the railway workmen,
calculated to cripple our communications and make the movement of troops
and supplies impossible.