Page:John Rickman - An Eye-witness from Russia.djvu/10

 officers and men which led them to desert from the Austro-German Armies. Practically all the troops deserted and many of the officers fled from their country in the last days of July, 1914, rather than fight on behalf of the Austro-German Government. Apparently it was a feature of the Austrian army that Czech battalions should be commanded by officers who were not of Czech nationality. In the same way Italian troops were not officered by Italians, because the Imperial Government was afraid that national feeling might override Imperial loyalty. Talking with Czechs, one hears again and again of the plots which were schemed and carried out on the eastern front, when officers were shot and battalions in the night quietly slipped over to friendly Russia, carrying with them sometimes full equipment, leaving dangerous gaps in the Austrian line.

The Imperial Russian Government, however glad it might be to have a break in the line of the enemy, did not receive these deserters from Imperial rule with the welcome which they had expected, and for the most part the Czechs who had thus seriously compromised their position at home were admitted into Russia only as prisoners. Under the Provisional Government their position noticeably improved; under Kerensky's they received the welcome and recognition so long delayed. They were organised again as fighting battalions, and became the backbone of Kerensky's army and the chief factor in his advance. When the armies of the new Russian Republic melted away, these Czecho-Slovak visitors were the only effective fighting force left, and it was by them that the Ukraine was held.

When it appeared that fighting could not be resumed effectively on the eastern front the French offered to take the Czecho-Slovaks, via America, to the western front, promising them a pleasant journey round the world and a welcome at the other end. As evidence of good faith they sent money to Russia for their pay and for new equipment, leaving it to the Czechs themselves to arrange the details of the expenditure of this money. The Bolsheviks promised transport across Russia and Siberia on condition that the arms and the men should travel on different trains. An allowance of one rifle per waggon was permitted.

The slow journey began. The disorganisation of the railways at that time and the small number of locomotives contributed to