The Story of the Great War, Volume 7 / American Food and Ships; Palestine; Italy invaded; Great German Offensive; Americans in Picardy; Americans on the Marne; Foch's Counteroffensive.

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CHAPTER LXI

CONTINUED GERMAN AGGRESSION

On the day the Russian delegates to Brest-Litovsk had signed the peace treaty the Germans had announced an end to military activities on the eastern front, and until the treaty had been ratified they did indeed refrain from further aggression. It was even reported that practically all the German forces on the Russian front had been removed to the western front and those few that remained would be insufficient to carry on any further operations, even against the disorganized Russians. But after the middle of March reports of military operations began to appear again, the pretext of the Germans being that they were "establishing order" along the new frontier and were merely suppressing irresponsible bands.

The Teuton advance was most pronounced in Ukrainia, where the legal authorities were ostensibly cooperating with the invaders. Apparently the forces employed in the conquest of this territory were largely the Slavic contingents of the Austrian Army, supported by the so-called Ukrainian troops, regiments recruited from the Ukrainians which had formerly been units of the Russian Army and were now loyal to the Rada. German officers were in the higher commands, so that the operations were entirely in the interests of the German Government.

Thus, by the end of the third week in March the Teutons had overrun all of Ukrainia west of the Dnieper and were in possession of the chief center, Kiev, as well as the important cities of Zhitomir, Nikolaiev, and the chief seaport of southern Russia, Odessa. Bolsheviki Red Guards succeeded in driving the invaders out of Odessa some days later, but it was again captured on the arrival of Austrian reenforcements. Over two thousand ships and great quantities of war material were seized. According to some reports, even the Rada became alarmed and protested at continuous invasion, but no heed was taken of the request.

Up in northern Russia there was also continued aggression. An advance on Petrograd was begun, but when the Soviet Government became established in Moscow, the Germans switched off in that direction, especially from the direction of Ukrainia, whose borders with Russia proper were crossed for a considerable distance, to within 150 miles of Moscow.

The peace treaty provided for the ceding to the Central Powers of the Transcaucasian provinces, already mentioned. But here the people had organized a constituent assembly of their own, which now refused to recognize this provision of the treaty. Meeting in Tiflis, the assembly declared for a defensive war, and independence was declared. In the middle of April the Armenian National Council, in an official protest addressed to the German Government, said:

"Following upon the withdrawal of the Russian troops Turkish forces have invaded the undefended country and are not only killing off the Turkish Armenians, but all the Russians as well. In spite of the terms of the peace treaty, which recognizes the right of self-determination for these Caucasian regions, the Turkish Army is advancing toward Kars and Ardahan, destroying the country and killing the Christian inhabitants. The responsibility for the future destiny of the Armenians lies entirely with Germany, because it was Germany's insistence which resulted in the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Armenian regions, and at the moment it rests with Germany to prevent the habitual excesses of the Turkish troops, increased by revengefulness and anger."

In Russia, the Bolshevist leaders had actually betrayed their country to the Germans. In Finland, it was the conservative element that welcomed the Teutons. Hatred of Russia and fear of the excesses committed by the extreme Socialists had made the Finns strongly pro-German. For the Socialists were not only a numerous element in Finland, but were well organized in the Labor party. In January, 1918, these radicals, corresponding to the Bolsheviki in Russia, rose in armed revolt and seized Helsingfors, driving the members of the Government north, where it established its headquarters at Vasa, under the leadership of M. Svinhufvud. The Socialists organized a government of their own in the old capital, the head of their cabinet being Kullervo Manner. Thus was begun the civil strife with the conservative White Guards on the one hand and the Socialist Red Guards on the other, the former receiving German support, the latter being backed by the moral and a great deal of material support from the Soviet Government of Russia. The Germans occupied the Aland Islands, March 2, 1918, and in April took Helsingfors and Viborg, cooperating with the Finnish White Guards. At the end of April, Finland was practically controlled by Germany. Meantime the Germans were organizing the conquered provinces taken from Russia.

The continued aggression of the German forces aroused a very bitter spirit among the Russians. Even Lenine openly declared that the peace was only for the purpose of reorganizing the war. Trotzky, who at least outwardly opposed the acceptance of the treaty, came to the fore again. He declared for the organization of an army of half a million men on the regular disciplined basis. On April 2, 1918, Podvoisky, assistant commissary of war, announced that Russia would establish an army of 1,500,000 men, in which the elective principle would be more limited, and some of the leaders openly advocated conscription. On April 10, 1918, Trotzky was again admitted into the cabinet as minister of war.

Meanwhile there were strong indications that a more conciliatory attitude would be adopted toward the "capitalistic" governments of the Allies, who had been denounced as only a little less hostile to Russia than Germany. Tchitcherin, the foreign minister, made the statement that "Russia's relations toward the Entente are unchanged."

CHAPTER LXII

JAPANESE TAKE ACTION IN THE EAST

The Allied Governments, naturally, including that of the United States, refused to recognize the treaty of peace which Germany and Austria had imposed on the helpless Russians. It was their recognition of the helplessness of the Russians which caused them to realize the fact that Germany might still further force them into a position which would be detrimental to the Allied cause; that, in a sense, the Russians were not responsible and that therefore it might become necessary to take certain measures which would prevent their falling too far under Teuton control, or permitting Russia to become a vast storehouse and granary for the Central Powers, which might exploit and develop Russian resources to further Austrian and German ends. Now that Russia was not even nominally hostile to Germany, she became a potential auxiliary instead of a menace to the military success of the Central Powers.

Just before the collapse of Russia, brought to a climax by the rise into power of the Bolsheviki, large stores of military supplies from Japan and the United States had been accumulating at the Vladivostok terminus of the Siberian Railroad. It was only natural to assume that it would be Germany's great desire to obtain possession of these stores. What quickened anticipation of this possibility was the rumor that large numbers of Austrian and German prisoners had been armed in Siberia and were gathering along the line of the Siberian Railroad. Both Lenine and Trotzky denied this report most vigorously and invited the Allies to send representatives into Siberia to investigate. This was done, notably by the United States, and the reports of the investigators seemed to indicate that there had been no foundation to the rumors.

Nevertheless, the danger remained and action became necessary. Japanese intervention in the East now became a lively subject of discussion in the Allied countries. On April 5, 1918, two companies of Japanese marines were put ashore in Vladivostok, the immediate pretext being some disorders ashore, in which a Japanese subject had been killed. The local soviet reported that the Japanese had taken this action on their own initiative, without consulting the diplomatic representatives of any other of the Allied countries. But a later report indicated that the British had also landed marines, and on the following day the Japanese put ashore another small landing party. The Japanese naval commander, Admiral Kato, issued a proclamation in which he assumed personal responsibility for the landing of forces, and stated that it had absolutely no political significance, the object being merely to protect Japanese lives and property until the local authorities could guarantee law and order themselves. The local governing bodies, however, protested vigorously.

The news of the landing produced keen excitement in Moscow and was construed as the beginning of Japanese intervention in Russian domestic affairs. On the following day, April 6, 1918, the Soviet Government issued a statement in which it declared that the murder of the Japanese subject was part of a pre-arranged plan and that "the Japanese have started a campaign against the Soviet Republic." Two days later Premier Lenine said, in a public speech:

"It is possible that, within a short time, perhaps even within a few days, we shall be compelled to declare war against Japan."

Two days later it was reported that Russia had requested the German Government to permit postponement of that provision of the peace treaty which demanded the demobilization of the Russian military forces, on account of the possible need of defensive military action against the Japanese.

On April 16, 1918, Mr. Francis, American ambassador to Russia, issued the following statement:

"The Soviet Government and the Soviet press are giving too much importance to the landing of these marines, which has no political significance, but merely was a police precaution taken by the Japanese admiral on his own responsibility for the protection of Japanese life and property in Vladivostok, and the Japanese admiral, Kato, so informed the American admiral, Knight, and the American consul, Caldwell, in Vladivostok. My impression is that the landing of the British marines was pursuant to the request of the British consul for the protection of the British consulate and British subjects in Vladivostok, which he anticipated would possibly be jeopardized by the unrest which might result from the Japanese landing. The American consul did not ask protection from the American cruiser in Vladivostok Harbor, and consequently no American marines were landed. This, together with the fact that the French consul at Vladivostok made no request for protection from the British, American, or Japanese cruisers in the harbor, unquestionably demonstrates that the landing of Allied troops is not a concerted action between the Allies."

The fears of the Soviet Government were not completely allayed, however, for they began to remove the stocks of war material westward, with the result that on April 20 the Japanese landed still more marines to reenforce those already on guard ashore.

On April 26, 1918, Tchitcherin, the foreign minister of the Soviet Government, informed the representatives of the United States, Great Britain, and France that his Government desired the recall of their consuls stationed at Vladivostok on account of their participation in counter-revolutionary plots. He also asked them to set forth their attitudes toward the Soviet Government. An official report of the demand for the removal of John K. Caldwell, the American consul at Vladivostok, was received by the American State Department on May 6, 1918, from Ambassador Francis. The State Department replied that it had no definite information on which to base such charges and refused to remove the consul. These charges were largely in relation to the counter-revolutionary movement which had been instigated by General Seminov, who had established himself in the Transbaikal and had gathered around him a number of former officers in the Russian army of high rank and who were now inspired, either by a hope that a monarchial form of government might be reestablished, or at least that a less radical form of government than that of the Bolsheviki might take its place. Here were gathered also many civilian enemies of the Bolsheviki, with the same hope of overthrowing them by military force.

During the middle of April, 1918, hostilities were reopened by General Kornilov against the Soviet forces, but his campaign from the Cossack country in the south met with disaster in its incipiency, and Kornilov was himself badly wounded.

It was also stated that General Dutov, another anti-Bolshevist Cossack leader, was captured by the Bolshevist troops, and that Seminov, the leader of the anti-Soviet forces in Siberia, was killed.

Meanwhile the Germans were continuing their aggressive operations, largely through Ukrainia, where they were almost completely in possession of the country. The German Government was evidently keenly disappointed in its hopes of obtaining food supplies from this region.

If the demanded food supplies were to be had, it was obvious that stronger measures must be resorted to. In the latter part of April it was announced officially by the Washington State Department that the Ukrainian Rada was to be dissolved by the Teuton military commander in Kiev and another government established in its place.

The pretext came with the "arrest" on April 24, 1918, of a prominent pro-German banker by an organization calling itself the Committee of Ukrainian Safety. The German Vice Chancellor, Von Payer, said before the Main Committee of the Reichstag that this secret society had as its object the expulsion of the Germans from the country, which it proposed to accomplish by means of the old terrorist methods employed in the earlier days of the autocracy. Among the members of the organization were many men of public prominence, and it was said that its central executive committee had been meeting in the residence of the minister of war. The German ambassador had demanded an investigation, but the Rada would not, or could not, take action.

Within forty-eight hours the commander in chief of the Teuton forces in Ukrainia, General von Eichhorn, proclaimed a state of "enhanced protection," tantamount to martial law.

On April 28, 1918, while the Rada was in session, the doors to the assembly chamber were suddenly thrown open by German soldiers and a number of the members of the assembly were seized, among them being the minister of war. When the president of the Rada protested against the outrage, he was struck by a soldier and thrown to the floor.

On the following day a convention of wealthy peasants and landed gentry, who were holding a convention in the city, proclaimed itself the government of the land, declared the Rada non-existent, and proclaimed General Skoropadsky, a strong pro-German and a reactionary, hetman of Ukrainia, thus giving him practically dictatorial powers, subject to German approval. The German Government hastened to recognize the new governing power.

A German tool from the beginning, the Rada had nevertheless failed to satisfy the German demands because of its democratic form, which enabled an honest minority within its composition to block the pro-German majority. With the autocratic powers of the new dictator at their disposal, the Germans now hoped to accomplish their ends more effectively, for now they could place the responsibility squarely on him.

In their drive for food supplies, however, the Teutons were not disposed to confine themselves to the boundaries of Ukrainia. They still continued their military expeditions into the territories of the Soviet Government.

In the early part of June, 1918, the Germans made an advance into the Roslav region, in the Province of Kursk, taking Roventki. On May 10, 1918, they began an eastward advance, sixty miles wide, between Valuyki and Zhukovo. On that date they captured Rostov on the Don, an economic center of great importance, but held it only overnight, as the next day they were driven back by the Russian Red Guards. Finally, however, during this period, but on a date not mentioned in the dispatches, Sebastopol was captured, very little resistance being offered on this occasion. Here the majority of the ships constituting the Russian Black Sea fleet were captured, but, according to a German report, it was found that the ships were in a deplorable condition; only the battleship Volga and the cruiser Pamyat Mercuria were in serviceable condition. The rest of the fleet consisted of the battleship Rostislav, the cruiser Potemkine, and a number of torpedo boats and submarines and twenty transports. The protected motor-boat flotilla had already been seized at Odessa, as had been the new war vessels still lying on the slips in the shipyards. The latter consisted of a dreadnought of 23,000 tons, two protected cruisers of 7,600 tons, and two unprotected cruisers.