The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1918-11-08
CZECHO- -SLOVAKS
FIGHT THROUGH
HOSTILE COUNTRY
Made a Successful Night
Attack on the
BOlsheviki
COSSACKS ASSISTED
IN THE BATTLE
Enemy Captured by Receiv-
ing Fake Messages from
Gen. Gaida

Vladivostok, Sept. II, (Correspon-
dence of The Associated Press)-
General Gaida's Czecho-Sl -Slovaks fight
ing their way through $500 miles of
hostile territory furnishes a tale no
less thrilling than that related of
Cortez' drive from Vera Cruz to the
ancient Aztec capital in the sixteenth
century Like his illustriou3 predec-
essor, he saw his forces grow as his
successes multiplied, but his success
cs, also like those of the adventurous
Spaniard, were due to his unflagging
courage and ingenious tactics and to
the loyalty Of his men.
When the order came from Petro-
grad countermanding the permission
given for the free movement Of the
CZecho-Slovaks toward VladivOstok,
it found them strung out in a thin
line from the Volga to Vladivostok.
A twelve day truce, following the
first serious clash at Irllutsk when
the Bolsheviki undertook to disarm a
trainload of Czechs, applied only to
Eastern Siberia and was utilized by
Giada's men to get a running start
for the plunge through the thickest
of the struggle. Thereafter his pol
icy appears to have been to constant
ly prepare and execute some new sur
prise until the enemy was in such a
state Of nerves that the approach of
body of Czecho-Slovaks no matter
how small, was likely to throw him
into a panic.
Assisted by Cosacks and by Czechs
from Chiliabinsk, Colonel Kadlets,
then commander of the Czech forces
west of Hkutsk, fought his way west
to Omsk, taking towns enroute. He
improved the time during the arn1is-
tice to clean up the line westward to
the Urals.
Meantime, with resumption of hos
tilities to the eastward the Czech
SlOvak forces between Krasnoyarsk
and Irkutsk found themselves hard
pressed and near to the end of their
resources. Kadlets doubled back
eastward and by series of fanking
movements, falling upon the Bolshe-
wiki in the night, stampeded them
time after time. In this way he
pushed through to the relief of his
countrymen at Krasnoyarsk ano
Irkutsk.
From Irkutsk to the Southernmost
point of lake Baikal there are forty
one tunnels. 1t was the Czech's ain
to clear out the Bolsheviki without
giving them time to blow up these
tunnels and to that end they started
a small contingent overland to sur
prise the Bolsheviki beyond the series
of tunnels. These men marched foul
days under greatest difficulties. They
became so pressed for food supplies
that they had to eat their horses. But
they accomplished their object. They
attacked the Bolsheviki in the mid
die of the night, captured their ma
chine guns and started them north
ward in disorder. The Bolshevik
succeeded in blowing up one tunnel
the last one IN the series.
The Czechs and their Russian al
lies now had a clear track to tn,
southern extremity of the lake, to ;
village named Slujianka, where thu
obstacle to further progress. The!
dragged a few light guns over th'
ridge and marched several contin
gents of troops around the obstruc
ton only to find the BolsheviBi mas
sed in force some 20 miles beyond
The Czechs and. Russians suffere,
heavy losses in the fighting here AM
were forced back to within a fey
miles of the tunnel.
Meantime the Czechs had cleare
the tunnel sufficiently to pass troop
through on foot. General Giada, VIII
had succeeded Colonel Kadlets i
command, caused decoy message
to fall into the enemy's hands
begging for help and declaring tha
the tunnel was hopelessly blocke
and he in desperate straits, surround
ed and at the end of his resources
The Bolsheviki thereupon move
southwark in high spirits, THROWN
aside all caution. Bands played an
their progress was in the nature of
triumphal march.
A few miles from the tunnel the
ran into an ambush which completed
demoralized them. Machine CUR
raked them from the hillsides an
field guns shelled them from tn
rear. A tattered remnant of the Bo
sheviki army fled northward with tf
few trains they were able to save.