New-York tribune., 1919-08-24
Scouts of the 18th Siberian
Regiment
i S ADMIRAL KOLCHAK losing
out? During the last few

IN weeks there were indications
that he is. From the dispatches
recently published in the American
press the picture of a general deba-
Gle can be pieced together, a catas-
trophe of which military reverses
suffered at the hands of the Bolshe-
wiki are merely symptom More
over, the downhill trend of the fort
unes of the Omsk dictator seems to
have aroused latent doubts and diff
fdences in circles which heretofore
were reckoned among his stanch
supporters. The entire attitude of
| the American newspapers on Rus
sia appears to be undergoing a
change which, though by no means
favorable to the Lenine regime,
is turning against the so far strong
est opponent of the Soviet republic.
1t would seem that something
approaching rout was developing
among the Kolchak forces as far
back as the end of last month. On
July 81 the Lenine newspapers
printed a news dispatch reporting a
Bolshevik advance along the entire
eastern (seen from Kolchak's point
of view, westerly front The dis
patch, which, to be sure, was of
Bolshevik origin, said that the pur-
suit of Kolchak's troops was cover
ing as much as sixteen miles a day.
And on August II The Associated
Press reported from Washington:
"Owing to the failure of the Allied
governments to send adequate supplies
to Admiral Kolchak his Siberian gov
ernment is reported to be on the point
of collapse, in dispatches received here
to-day. Kolchak's forces are retreating
steadily and Omsk is said to be threat
ened with evacuation.
"OfYicials here are known to regard
Kolchak's efforts at an end unless most
radical measures are adopted by out
side governments, and it was suggested
that the President might call the at
tention Of Congress to the imminence
of Bolshevik control Of all Siberia"
On August IA The Associated
Press cabled from London:
"The retreat In the Ural Mountains
of the forces of Admiral Kolchak con-
tinues, according to news received here
to-day. South of Uralsk, at the south
ern end of the Urals, it is added, the
Bolsheviki have driven the Cossacks
back sixty miles and are endeavoring
of the Kolchak forces, who are fighting
on both sides Of the Transsiberian
| Railway.
"East of Cheliabinsk, junction point
of the railway, and Shadrinsk, the Boil
sheviki. are said to have reached the
line of the Mass and Issert rivers and
captured Tiumen, just east of the Rus
sian-Siberian border. The advices add
there is no sign that the Bolshevik ad-
vance is likely to be checked.
"The Associated Press is informed,
however, that the general position of
Admiral Kolchak and his government
is not believed to have been made ma
terially worse by the Bolshevik ad-
vance, and barring the unexpected col
lapse of Admiral Kolchak, the mun-
tions Amer is sending should ar
rive in Siberia in time to aid in his
recovery.
Nevertheless, it is admitted here
that the reverses suffered by Admiral
Kolchak are serious blow to the
policy of the Entente in Russia"
The utter gravity of the situation
was summarized in a dispatch on
August II from Washington to "The
New York Times," saying in part:
"The time has come, high official
of the government stated tonight, to
prepare the people of the anti Bolshe-
visit world for possible disaster to the
Kolchak regime in Western Siberia.
Entirely trustworthy information re-
ceived by the government within the
last forty-eight hours shows that the
Siberian forces have retired an addi
tional 160 to ITO miles, this being the
third extensive retirement in the last
few weeks. Altogether, since the re-
verses started, the Omsk government
army has retreated about 800 miles
east of the positions it held last
spring"
Roland S. Morris, the American
Ambassador to Japan, who for some
time. had been conducting an investi-,