New Britain herald., 1918-09-05


 man and Magyar prisoners Wns begun on n large scale. One of tho orders of Tchitcherin, the BolHhevilk foreign minister, roads: "Dispatch all German and Magyar prisoners out of Siberia, stop the Czecho-SlovHlcs." Three members Of our national council who were sent to Moscow for an eXplanu- lion of the stopping of our trains Wer9 arrested. At the same time our trains were attacked in different stations by the Soviet troops, formed mostly ot German and Magyar prisoners.
 "I will recall the Irkutsll incident Our train-about 100 men, armed with ten rifles and 70 hand grenades, was surrounded Dy a few thousand Red Guards armed with machine guns and cannon. Their commander gaVc our mon 10 minutes to surrender their arms. or be shot. Accodng to their habit, ours began negotiations. Sud- denly there was heard the German command 'SchieHsen.' and the Red Guards began firing at the train. Our men jumped off the train and in five minutes all the machine guns were in their pOssCs&iO, tho Russian BolsheviIls disarmcd and all the Germans and Magyars done away with.
 Pho Siberian Government which resides in irllutsk and which, as it ap- pcarcd later, ordered this attack, can thank only the intervention of the American and French consuls that 1t was not destroyed by our rightly em- bittered volunteers.
 ITO what extremes our loyalty was carried, is shown by the fact that al- though pcrlidiouslN attacked and al though we disarmed the Red Guard in Erkutsk, we still began new negotia- tionS, with the result that we surren- derCd all our arms, on the condition that all German and Magyar prisoners would be diSarmed and disbanded, and that VIC would be allowed to pro- cced unmoleSted The Siberian gov ernmcnt guaranteed us unmolested passage, and, taught by bitter expe- ricnCe that it was dangerous to attack even unarmed Czecho- -Slovaks, let us proceed to NadiVOstOk. True, this concerned only the trains in the vii cinity of Irkutsk; the trains west of IrkutsF Were-under the orders Of MOscow-attacked in the same man. ner, but aways with the same results; everywhere the Bolshcviks were dis armed.
 '"The arrest of the members of our National Council, took place imne- diately before these treacherous at tacI1s. Then, thousands of armed Ger mans and Magyars in the vicinity Of OmsIl, I<rasnoYarsk and Chita, forced our army between Volga and Irkutsl< to take the Siberian administration into their hands, Coward the end of ,t hi esfD were trying 10 enter into negotiations with Moscow. But Moscow, i. C.: Lenino and Trotzky, proclaimed us murdercrs and began mobilization against us. Under these circumstances our troops were forced to take poses sion of the bridges over the Volga.
 T must mention the fact that our defense which, as said, was no- cessated by treacherous attacks and everywhere resulted in the disarma- ment of the BoIsheviks, was joyfully greeted by the majority of the Rus sian population. Anti-rBolshevists took advantage of the situation and over threw the Soviets. We did not inter- fere with their internal affairs even after the open conflict. We only dis armed those who attacked. us, to make a repetition of attacks impossible.
 German Story Denied.
 'The Germans were trying to spread rumors that our volunteers committed brutalities during these battles, That is not true. The facts arc this:
 Russian-Bolshevist taken by our troops, were disarmed and sent home, , NA CTS, taken with arms in hand, were killed That was made known to them beforehand. The Austrans hanged all our wounded whom they captured on the Italian front. and they attack ed one of our trains of wounded in Siberia Four years of a struggle for life have taught us to be on guard. We did no harm to German or Magyar prisoners who did not oppose us al though they were our enemies; we could have killed thousands and thou sands Of them, but we allowed them to leave Siberia in peace, if they de- sired to go home. When, however, they treacherOusly attacked us. they were of necessity made harmlcss We made an official announcement that every German and Magyar caught by us with arms in hand, would be given no quarter. On the contrary we could cite many instances of unprecedented brutalities committed on our wounded by the German, and especially, Mag var prisoners.
 Tn Siberia thcrc arc today some hundred thousand German and Mag var prisoners, great number of whom are armed. It is these men who offer considerable resistance to our army.
 HolShrVis1s Incapable of Ruling.
 ''Fhe EolshcViks gave a sufficient proof Of the fact that they arc inca pahlC to rule. The number of thcir fighting supporters is very indefinite.