# Maurice Janin

Pierre-Thiébaut-Charles-Maurice Janin (19 October 1862 – 28 April 1946) was a French general (from April 20, 1916) and military commander who was the chief of the Allied military mission in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. He is known for his betrayal of the Russian Supreme Leader Alexander Kolchak by giving him to the Soviet revolutionary committee to be executed in Irkutsk.

## Biography

Pierre Thiébaut Charles Maurice Janin was born in Paris on the 19 October 1862. studied at Special Military School at Saint-Cyr, which he graduated in 1882.
In 1912, He briefly worked as an instructor at the Saint Petersburg military academy. He then served in the 31st and 123rd Infantry Regiments before and during the first world war. He fought in the Battle of the Yser in 1914 and was victorious. Shortly after the battle he was made deputy chief of staff at the French army headquarters.
In April 1916, the French president Poincáre sent him to Russia as the commander of the French military mission. The aims of the mission were to help Romania join the war on the Entente's side and to improve the tactical training of the Russian army. Janin met Tsar Nicholas II and found him to not know much about the state of his own army saying that "He was very poorly informed about current events. He had no opportunity to form his own judgment of the facts. He did not read newspapers, but only excerpts from newspapers. We can compare it to how daily light penetrates a dark cellar through a small window."
In March 1917, a revolution broke out in Russia, the Tsar abdicated and the monarchy was abolished. The Russian Republic was established and the government decided to continue to fight in the war on the Entente's side. On 7 November, communists under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin began occupying government buildings and on the 8th they took the Winter Palace (the seat of the government). Janin left Russia the same day.
At the beginning of 1918, Janin was made the minister of war for the Czechoslovak national council (based in Paris).
In July of 1918, he was appointed chief of the Allied military mission in Siberia during the Russian Civil War and as such, he commanded the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia. He took charge and met with the Supreme leader of Russia and commander of the White Army (Alexander Kolchak) the man he was supposed to aid. In 1919, the Red Army began to push the white army into retreat. Janin betrayed and detained Supreme Leader Kolchak after Kolchak refused to give him and the Czechoslovak legion control of the main gold reserve of the army. Janin then handed Kolchak over to local Socialist-Revolutionaries in January 1920 along with a disputed number of wagons of gold to ensure their safety. Janin said that "Psychologically, we cannot accept responsibility for the safety of the admiral's journey... After I suggested that he transfer the gold reserve under my personal responsibility and he refused to trust me, I can no longer do anything". In February 1920, the Bolsheviks executed Kolchak in Irkutsk.
Janin returned home to France shortly after this and defended the accusations that he had personally betrayed Kolchak and the anti-Bolshevik movement by saying that it was "fairy tales" and that people couldn't "imagine the real state of affairs in its true light". He died on 28 April 1946 in France.

## Awards

Janin was a recipient of the Latvian military Order of Lāčplēsis, 2nd class. He was also awarded the Czechoslovak Military variant of Order of the White Lion in 1923.

## Legacy

Among the White Russian émigrés he became widely known as the "General without honour".

## In fiction

In the 2008 Russian biopic The Admiral, Janin is played by Richard Bohringer.