Evening star., 1938-11-27
Bluecher Always a Mystery
Head Soviet Army Returns Obscuriy After Tuphs
BY H. Baird.


man of mystery" and outstanding SOL
dier, Marshal Vassili Constantinovich
Bleucher, until lately commander of the
Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army.
His fate is mystery. Whether he is
dead, in prison, in exile or commanding
an unimportant little garrison some
where, no one outside the inner councils
of the Kremlin knows. From the peak
of fame he has been plunged into OBJ
scurity. The only official word said
about him in Moscow was the brief an
nouncement of his relief.
There have been rumors that Bleuch-
ers disappearance may be explained by
the possibility that he is on secret mis-
sion in China to aid the tagging armies
of Chang Kai-shek. But those here
with the best sources of Russian infor-
nation doubt this. If it were true, there
would be every reason for Moscow, in
order to deceive the Japanese, to allow
the Soviet press to continue its usual
adulation of Bleucher and encourage the
belief that he was still in the high coun-
ellis OF the Red Army. Instead, he has
been ignored by Russian official news
papers for weeks.
Therefore, it is more logical to believe
that the man who once ranked next to
War Commissar Klementi Voroshilov in
the Soviet military hierarchy has some
how crossed purposes with Joseph Stain
and has suffered the fate OF all who do.
Like others, he may be kept in jail for
months of questioning before any OFF,
cial announcement is made about him.
Then the world may be treated, as 1t
has been so often in recent years, to an
official expose of plots and treason IN
the grand manner.
Always Man of Mystery.
If his end is veiled IN mystery, then
that would be in keeping with his lie
and even his birth. Here. mind you. is
a man whose name is household word
in the Soviet Union, whose picture has
appeared almost weekly in the nations
press, who has been hailed time and
again as Soviet hero No. !, and yet
whose real name and origin are not
matters of official record.
Consult any book of reference naming
Bleucher and you will find that he Is
believed" to have been born around
1889 somewhere in Central Russia.
Bleucher is not his real name, nor is
Galen, the pseudonym under which ne
served in China during the turbulent
days of the Nationalist rebellion.
The known facts of his life begin just
Union hn
young metal worker in the Central Rus
sian city of Mitishi There he became
interested in the doctrines of social revo-
luton then sweeping Russia, was ar
rested by the Tsarist police and served
two years in prison for his political ac-
tivities.
In 1914 he enlisted in the Army, and
soon became an officer. His membership
in the Tsarist officer cast, however, did
not prevent him from joining the Boil
shevik party and when, a year later,
Lenin raised the flag of revolution IN
Leningrad and peace was made with
Germany Bleucher soon became one OF
the outstanding leaders Of the new Red
Army.
Is Napoleonic Type.
Bleucher is a soldier in the Napoleonic
mold. Broad-shouldered, squat, mus
cular, he has a strong, determined jaw
and keen penetrating gray eyes which
look out from under jutting brow. It
has been said of him that "he never
pulls word or punch" He was the
first Soviet soldier to receive the coveted
Order of the Red Star. Adored by his
troops, he has civil war record OF con-
sistent triumphs, and his failure in China
was political, not a military, defeat.
Bleucher's campaigns during the Rus
sian civil war were conducted in the
hottest fighting zone-against the Co.'S
sacks in the south. There the "scourge
of the Bolsheviks" carried on vigorous
campaign against the Whites for more
than two years, campaign which cul-
minated in his defeat of the armies un-
der Gen. Wrangle in the Crimea and the
final establishment of Bolshevik power
in European Russia.
After brief period of seyvice in the
west he was sent to organize the new
Red armies in the Far Eastern republic
which had abandoned its brief inde-
pendence and allied itself with the new
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
1t was In 1925, however, that Bleucher
first attracted world attention by turn
ing up mysteriously-as ever-in China
as "ofncial adviser" to the new National
list government in Canton. He was the
military, and Michael Borodin, the po-
litical, chieftain of mission sent by
the Comintern to aid the Kuomintang
in setting up regime which, Moscow
fondly hoped, would become the worlds
second major Communist state.
Victories in China.
Military headquarters were established
by Bleucher in q great white house, the
roof of which was paced day and night
by two armed sentries. There, with the
remnants of the Chinese Revolutionary
Army of 1911, Bleucher formed the
nucleus of the Kuomintang forces which
were to sweep victorious through all
China and establish the red nag over
the dragon-so hs hoped. The Russian
military mission trained 5000 men.