Czech troops in Russia wanted to return to the European battlefield because the British had promised to support the establishment of a free independent state of Czechs and Slovaks after the war, freeing them from the rule of the hated Habsburg dynasty.
The origin of the Czech army is very unique.
At the beginning of the European War, some Czechoslovaks living in Russia were conscripted into the Russian Army. Later, the Tsar combined these people with the Czechoslovaks captured during the war to form the Siberian Volunteer Division to fight against the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Japanese team fought. The Czechs and Slovaks, led by the Bohemian flag, fought for national independence.
When the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, the Czech army requested that they be transported to the Western Front of Europe to continue fighting the Austrians. The Bolshevik military leaders agreed that the Czech army would return to the European battlefield from Vladivostok via the Siberian Railway. The Czech army began to pass through Kurdistan.
Sk, Penza, Chelyabinsk and Samara marched towards Siberia. There were 42,500 people when they set out. As Czechoslovak prisoners of war continued to join along the way, their total number exceeded 60,000.
Naturally, the Germans did not want to see these more than 60,000 people appear on the European battlefield, so they exerted strong pressure on the Soviet regime. The German threats had an effect. Umyanov and Trotsky ordered the movement of troops along the Siberian Railway.
The Soviet government dispatched the Red Guards to send these Czechs back to prisoner-of-war camps or to eliminate them on the spot.
A train of military vehicles loaded with Czechs drove into Irkutsk, Russia's largest city in the Far East, located on the Lake Baikal plain, surrounded by endless green grasslands and dense virgin forests.
At the Irkutsk station, an artillery regiment of the Czech army was surrounded by the heavily armed and numerically superior Red Guards. Pantayev, on behalf of the Soviet government, asked the Czechs to hand over all weapons in their hands. According to the agreement, this Czech artillery regiment
The regiment has handed over all the artillery in their hands to the Soviets, leaving only some self-defense weapons, more than 80 rifles, 30 pistols and some hand grenades.
The Czech regiment leader Krajicek refused to hand over the self-defense weapons in his hands, and the deployment of the Red Guards around the station also made him wary. He and Pantaev got into an argument on the platform.
"Okay, I want to report your situation to my superiors!" Pantayev left the platform angrily.
Nakhchit knelt next to the Red Guard's machine gun on the second floor of the station, observing the situation on the platform with a telescope. When he saw Pantayev coming out of it, he made a gesture to them.
He ordered his machine gunners: "Fire at the military vehicles!"
Beep beep beep! Maxim's dull gunfire stimulated his nerves, as if he had returned to the trenches on the front line.
The Czechs who were suddenly attacked became confused and looked for hiding places.
"shot!"
The Red Guards excitedly pulled the trigger of their guns, bullets flying randomly in mid-air.
The Czechs soon discovered that the despicable attackers were a group of rabble with little training, and began to fight back with the few rifles and grenades they had.
"Aim lower! Damn it!..." Nachchit ran back and forth with his body bent, shouting at his team members, and bullets passed by him from time to time. The Czechs were well-trained, and there were many
He was a veteran who had been on the battlefield, and his marksmanship was very accurate. He jumped forward in a skirmish line like a group of frightened sand grouse.
A machine gun kept firing bullets into the air, the muzzle of the gun was raised absurdly high. Several machine gunners lying on the ground panicked and discovered that the bullets they fired could not hit the enemy no matter what. The shooter Ye Shi, who was a miner,
Czech exaggeratedly set the scale at 1,200 yards, but the Czechs had already reached 150 yards.
Bang! A bullet hit the loader Veshenznov's head, and blood mixed with brains gushed out like the salty tofu that Chinese workers often eat.
The Red Guards under attack began to disperse. The Czechs chased these people and rearmed with captured weapons. This artillery regiment of only 1,500 people occupied the entire Irkutsk, and a few days later repulsed the local Soviet organization.
The Red Guards' counterattack on the city.
After receiving the report from Irkutsk, General Gaida, the commander-in-chief of the Czech army, immediately ordered his troops not to hand over any weapons in their hands and to take "active self-defense actions" in the areas where they stayed.
The Czech Legion soon joined forces with rebels from all over the country to form a powerful anti-Soviet force.
In less than two months, the Czech Army occupied all the stations on the railway from Irkutsk to Penza, overthrew the local Soviet regime, and occupied Vladivostok at the end of June. This was only tens of thousands of Czech Army.
The results achieved by Russia were so brilliant that most people could not believe this fact.
When the members of the Allied Powers saw that the Soviet regime was so weak, they had the illusion that it would be easy to overthrow the new Bolshevik regime, and soon passed a resolution on military intervention in Russia.
The United States, Britain, France, Japan, and China agreed to jointly send troops into Russia to "maintain order", control the Siberian Railway, and subvert the Soviet power. Since the European War was in full swing, the United States, Britain, and France only sent more than 7,000 symbolic troops.
The main force of the intervention force is mainly composed of Japanese and Chinese.
The Czechoslovak National Assembly formed in Washington instructed the Czech army to obey the orders of the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers and stay there to support the anti-Soviet regime.
The Soviet Red Army with Trotsky as its chairman was being created. The Soviet regime showed extremely strong and efficient organizational capabilities in the crisis. The Supreme People's Committee issued a mobilization order stipulating that every worker from 18 to 40 years old must
Participating in military training, the Red Army ranks are rapidly expanding.
Compared with the Red Army, which had only 150,000 people, the anti-Soviet regime was much more powerful.
The "Don Army" under Krasnov gathered about 70,000 Cossack soldiers, and the Orenburg regime led by Dutov had more than 40,000 troops. In Ufa, the "ruling government" established by the Constitutional Committee and the Socialists
Two divisions of the "National Army" were established, and a provisional government dominated by the Mensheviks was established in Omsk.
Although the anti-Soviet armies were large in number, they were not subordinate to each other and fought independently.
The Supreme Military Conference of the Allied Powers held at the Palace of Versailles on July 2, 1918 made a further appeal to US President Wilson, asking him to agree to the Allies' full support for the Czech army. The Americans then proposed to send an army composed of Britain, Japan, the United States and China.
An intervention force was formed to enter Siberia to ensure that the supply lines of the Czech Army were not cut off by the Red Guards.
The Americans regard the Japanese as their biggest enemies in the Pacific. In order to prevent the Japanese from occupying the entire Siberian Railway on their own, Washington has been encouraging China to join the interventionist army, and has not hesitated to provide a large amount of military assistance and 100 million
Interest-free intergovernmental borrowing of US$50 million.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Chonghui once again acted as a "traitor". In order to eliminate Japanese interference, he signed the "Mutual Defense Treaty" with Japan on behalf of Beijing. Lin Shuo drew a line on the map, starting from Mohe at 122 East Longitude.
The entire Northeastern region east of the parallel was granted to the Japanese.
This move was strongly opposed by a large number of senior military officials, led by Army Minister Lin Jianfan, "From the day you left Taiwan, you promised to personally lead Dong Jun back to Taiwan one day. I have been waiting for 23 years, but
Seeing that the Japanese are getting stronger and stronger, you are helping the enemy! And now you have a powerful Russian as your enemy. I have no hope of defeating Japan one day!"
The old general was so excited that Commander Wang, who had signed the peace treaty, felt embarrassed to raise his head as if he had truly become a traitor.
"I don't take the Japanese seriously. Russia is our biggest enemy. The main goal now is to completely dismember the empire while the Russians are in civil strife!" Lin Shuo said firmly, "And without establishing a sufficient army
Before we have a strong navy, I will not allow anyone to provoke disputes with the Japanese!"
Lin Shuo acted so arbitrarily that General Lin was so angry that he wanted to resign.
Finally, after promising Lin Jianfan that he would expand the navy as soon as possible, the old general was appeased.
When sending troops to Siberia, logistics supplies basically had to rely on the Northeast Railway controlled by Zhang Zuolin. Lin Shuo gave Zhang Zuolin control of Jilin Province and the Middle East Railway in exchange for logistical security. When it comes to national justice, Lao Zhang is not included.
Vaguely, he not only promised to ensure the logistical security of the expeditionary force, but also promised to send two mixed brigades to accompany the Central Army on its expedition to the Northeast.
The United States, Britain, France and other Allied Powers decided to provide military assistance to Japan and China, the major troop contributors. The main supplies to China were US$50 million in free aid, US$150 million in interest-free loans, 3,000 trucks and 500,000 tons of oil.
The Japanese require a large amount of steel, copper and other metal supplies.
At the end of July, two Japanese divisions and 7,000 US, British and French troops began to land in Vladivostok.
There are approximately 220,000 Chinese expatriates in Vladivostok, accounting for almost 45% of the total population. Beijing has also made a decision to send warships to Vladivostok and send troops to protect the rights and interests of expatriates.