New-York tribune., 1919-05-23
Russian Armies
By Leo Pasvolsky
Editor Of the "Russkoys Sloro," scho
has spent severaI months at
the peace conferences
II he military situation in Russia. as :. i,

fo~
as the bolsheviki are concerned, is a,
follows: They have An army estimate,
at 100000 men, directed bv the generals of
the old Russian army, Differed partly hv ~.
officers of the old army and partly by Of.
fcers imported from Germany. 1t has =.
the present moment good artillery and larss
supplies of ammunition. The governmer,
has possibility of forcibly mobiliznc
very large number of men in the territorv
held by them. The supplies of ammunit;o,
however, cannot be replaced and mu.,
eventually give out. Their artillery a.
cording to expert information received from
Russia, is handled very ineficiently hv
them and is also bound to wear out.
Opposing these forces are the armies a,
the anti Bolshevik governments The mos,
important of these armies Is that mobizea
by the Omsk government On paper tba.
army numbers 100000 men, hut in reality !.
is not more than $4,000. The rest canno.
be mobilized because there is lack of arm,
and equipment. but they can be called n
the colors the moment such arms and eouin-
ment arrive. These troops can constitute
formidable force for the Volga and the Ira,
fronts. At present they are fighting par.
ticularly around the city of Perm and ara
expected to take the offensive some time
during the spring.
In the south there are several volunteer
and Cossack armies, under the suprema
command Of General Denikine. Thcsa
armies grew out of the small forces ORGAN.
lied by General Kor7iloff early In the last
year, numbering at the beginning 5000 or
1000 men, fighting without bases and al
most without ammunition, but gradually in.
creasing. At different times these volun.
teer armies were commanded by the most
brilliant of the Russian generals -Korniloff
Alexeyeo, Kaledine and now by Denkine.
The number of men modified in the south
of Russia is nominally 25o,000 Again, as in
the case of Siberia, these mnn can all be
called to the colors only if arms and am
munition in sufficient quantities are fur.
nished for them. The number Of troons
actually on the fighting line Is about 10O.-
000 They hold the Donetz coal basis prsc.
tically the only source of coal supply in
Russia, and the Kouban and the Don terri
tory, constituting She richest grain region
of Russia. Some parts of these troops are
found in the Caucasus, in the Crimea and
in other parts Of Southern Russia.
The Russian army in the north of Russia
numbers at present 20,610 men. 1t is co.
operating with the Allied troops In the
north on the battle front in the southern
part of the government of Archangel Be-
sides these principal armies there are small
detachments in Finland and in other parts
of Russia also operating against the Bolshe-
vik armies.
Thus the military situation, from the
point of view of the anti Bolshevik forces, is
as follows: There are in different parts of
Russia armies numbering approximately
250,000 men actually under arms. There is
possibility Of recruiting an equal or even
larger number of troops if arms and equip
ment can be provided for them. The exist
ing armios, except in the northern part Of
Ru sia, are very poorly armed, have very
little artillery and win the victories that
they have won principally because they have
greater moral strength than the terrorzed
and mercenary armies of the Bosheviki.
lhe mllltarY situation in Russia is by no
means hopeless from the point of view of
the anti-Bolshevik elements, providing they
receive the necessary arms and munitions,
which cannot come except from the Allies
If comparatively small 2orce Of .egular
troops from abroad be sent to the rsy.st-
ance of these armies their victory ove2 the
Bolsheviki would be a SPECIFY lns. II no
hl1+ mt arn
sent the victory would come, gut It would
be delayed considerably.