Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-03-21
TYPICAL RED
SCENES FOLLOW
FALL KRONSTADT
Wholesale Executions
of Rebel Leaders and
Civilians
Bodies Weighted and Thrown
on Ice in Gulf of Finland
Defending Forces Repeated
ly Betrayed by Soviet SYM
pathizers-Women, Children
Among Slain

Stockholm, March 2o.-tBy the As
ISOLATED Press).--Details of the fall
of Kronstadt before the onslaughts Of
the Bolshevik army under command
of Leon Tratzky. the Soviet war min
lister, have been brought here by ref
ugees.
In the Citadel, according to the ref
ugees, some 1900 men were left seek
ing to fight their way toward the
east, and in the other fortresses APP
proXimately 1000 were made pris oner
by the Bolshevilli. All officers and
leaders among the military forces and
civilians were Immediately picked out
and on TrotZky's orders, given before
the final attack, were executed. Their
Gulf of Finland with stones and scrap
iron in the pockets, SO that they will
sink when the ice breaks up, prob
ably a fortnight hence. All the other
rebel soldiers interAed are awaiting
the future which, according to the
refugees, most likely will bring exc
cutions. AS food is scarce and the
victorious Soviet army is on half ra-
tions, the situation of the prisoners
is easily understandable, the refugees
point out.
The horrors of the days of storming
cannot be described, the refugees say.
The insurrectionary forces were re-
peatedly betrayed by inhabitants SYM
pathizing with the Bolsheviki, and
small bodies of the rebels were fired on
and moved down by machine guns in
the hands of local Communists. The
garrison was not strong enough to
rush these forces of Communists and
simultaneously repulse attacks from
the outside. Everyone, old or young,
man or woman, with or without weap-
ons, who got in the way of, or was
hunted up, by the Bolsheviki was kill
ed Immediately, the refugees assert.
No pardon. was asked and none was
given.
The town of Kronstadt suffered Sc
verely. At the beginning of the re-
treat by the insurrectionists big fires
were burning. in five places, but by
Friday no smoke or fire could be seen.
The stream of refugees from Kron-
stadt has ceased, according to de-
spatches received from Terioki, on the
Filming frontier, at o'clock this aft
ernoon. Only few men arrived this
morning after an adventurous night
clad in white and with badly wounded
hands sustained in creeping for miles
along the ice in order to escape detec-
ton by the many Bolshevik patrols
The Bolsheviki, the refugees say, have
established a circular chain of SEN
tries and patrols around Kronstadt,
through which it is Impossible to
break.
Kronstadt had big stores of army
equipment, which explained the good
attire of the soldiers and sailors ar
irving in Finland. The latter country
will have great difficulty in feeding
the hungry refugees, as normally she
must import more than two-thirds Of
the grain and flour consumed. With
exchange rates unfavorablc, keeping
some $4,000 destitute refugees indefi-
nite1y will be a heavy burden. The
Filming press, in opposing care of the
refugees by the government, urges
that it is an international affair and
that the League Of Nations or some of
the great powers should intervene.