Page:Albert Beaumont - Heroic Story of the Czecho-Slovak Legions - 1919.djvu/81

 is, the line through Manchuria on the south and that which follows the River Amur on the north. The rest of the line, on to Lake Baikal, formed the third important railway we had to hold against Bolsheviks and German, Magyar, and Austrian prisoners, who were armed against us at the instigation of Moscow. The scattered forces of the Bolsheviks and the prisoners they armed in Central and Eastern Siberia may have amounted to about 50.000 men. As the greater part of our troops were still west of Irkutsk, we had no small task to face at the far eastern extremity and in the centre of Siberia. By Captain Gayda’s careful strategic movements, Irkutsk was finally reoccupied in the course of one Month, and the Bolsheviks were driven farther east.

Vladivostok, as already stated, had been reached early in April by our first detachments, and as there were already some landing parties ready on Japanese and American ships, there was no immediate danger for them. This danger only came in June, when war was declared between us and the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks had a very large garrison at Vladivostok. They were kept in awe somewhat by the presence of the Japanese and American warships, but there was no knowing when they might attack us. The Bolsheviks also had in their possession large depôts of arms and ammunition, which they might smuggle into the interior to arm the ex-war prisoners. During the first two weeks of our “war“ with the Bolsheviks nothing was done but to keep a careful eye on them. Then, however, it was found prudent to come to a formal arrangement with them, which was concluded on June 20 through the local Soviet.

The Bolshevik troops were to confine themselves within the immediate surroundings of their barracks, and a cordon of our own troops was to keep watch, so that nothing would be conveyed out of the depôts. No arms or ammunition were to be taken out without a formal order, which we could see, from the Soviet. But soon we discovered that the Soviet signed far too many orders, and that considerable quantities of rifles were being taken out of the depôts. We also learned that the Soviet was enlisting as many men as it could from the port to strengthen its garrison, and was in communication with the Bolsheviks and the armed prisoners in the interior, who were then in open war with our echelons. Our National Assembly, which had transferred its seat to the east, decided that the Bolsheviks had to be disarmed, and that Vladivostok should be in our undisputed possession with all its depôts. An order was given on the night of June 28 to occupy the heights around Vladivostok and all the strategical points. On the morning of June 29, at ten o'clock, a delegation, escorted by an armed force,