Page:Albert Beaumont - Heroic Story of the Czecho-Slovak Legions - 1919.djvu/84

 A As Mr. Lloyd George said, “It constitutes one of the greatest epics of history.“

It was not immediately that our echelons could settle down to the quiet sort of occupation that was assigned to them. Many of them for some time still had to continue fighting, and there were numerous engagements with Bolshevik bands and ex-varwar [sic] prisoners, armed by the Bolsheviks, east and vest of Lake Baikal, and also occasionally severe engagements on the Volga and in the Urals, but we were everywhere masters of the situation and won easy victories. The Bolsheviks were formidable only when facing disorganised soldiers or defenceless inhabitants of towns or country districts, but they were easily beaten by regular and well-organised troops. Our soldiers in Russia wore the Russian uniform, merely having a small badge of our own national colours to differentiate them. Hence they wore often taken for Russian soldiers. Our army, whilst it formed part of the Russian military organisation, was placed under the supreme command of a Russian general, and the last to command us was General Dietrichs, an excellent and patriotic officer, who worked in complete harmony and with the greatest sympathy for our cause to the very last. He had removed his headquarters to Vladivostok, and there he eventually handed his command over to General Janin, the French Commander-in-Chief of all the Allied troops in Siberia. Later on Japanese, British, French, and American troops came to reinforce us, and Japanese troops even got so far as Irkutsk. But they were eventually withdrawn again to the vicinity of Vladivostok.

Although with the occupation of Vladivostok our “retreat“ should have properly speaking begun, as we had then conquered our freedom of movement along the whole Siberian line, yet curiously enough it may be said that thereby our “retreat“ virtually ended. Other tasks were given us. The positions we had so gallantly taken for our self-protection we were told and begged by the Allies to hold, and even if possible, to extend.