Allied control of the Trans-Siberian Railway was effected March 6 by the formal organization of technical and military committees. M. Oustrougoff, Minister of Communications in the Omsk Government, heads the Interallied Committee, and John F. Stevens, the American railway expert, the Technical Committee. The United States is represented on the Interallied Committee by C. H. Smith, once of the Missouri Pacific Railway, and on the Military Committee by Colonel Gallagher, Quartermaster of the American Expeditionary Forces. THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT Leon Trotzky, the Bolshevist War Minister, wrote from Moscow on Feb. 14 to a friend in Geneva, asserting that Bolshevism was spreading throughout Russia and Siberia. After peace was declared, he said, a new campaign would be started among the workers of the world to fight imperialism and capitalism. Trotzky also boasted of Bolshevistic success in Germany. Trotzky was continuing his efforts to build up the Soviet Army, which was then estimated at 600,000 men. Among the Red Army are special corps of women; the Commissaries are attempting to employ many women in the ministries and other offices, but the majority of them, it is said, leave soon. A fight against religion is going on. Moscow's celebrated Church of St. Basil has been closed. The statue of Our Lady of Iverskia has not been destroyed, but is covered by a piece of calico, on which is printed: "Religion is opium for the people." The Russian Soviet Government, with a view to promoting a plan for a worldwide communist revolution, has appointed a new Minister to be known as International Commissary. The new Minister is a Swiss named Moor, who was a friend of Nikolai Lenine, the Bolshevist Premier, and Leon Trotzky, the Bolshevist Minister of War and Marine, when they lived in Switzerland. Despite the reports of unspeakable conditions, a Russian wireless dispatch received in Paris on Feb. 25 said that the Soviet Government authorized the entry into Russia of the commission which the recent International Socialist Congress at Berne proposed to send to investigate conditions; the Soviet Government, the message stated, would guarantee the commission every facility. Sufferings of the Romanoffs Under the Reds Statement by Grand Duke Alexander Former Grand Duke Alexander Michaelovich, an uncle of the late Czar, was chief of the Russian Aviation Service, and fought for thirty-two months at the front. After the first revolution he retired to the Crimea with others of the Romanoff family, and when the Lenine-Trotzky revolution followed he was in constant danger of execution. In January, 1919, he escaped to Paris, and spent many weeks in vain attempts to get the Allies to give military assistance to Russia. To a representative of the Paris Matin he said: I HAVE just learned some horrifying news. It was telegraphed from Helsingfors to The London Times, and republished by the Matin. Four Grand Dukes assassinated in the Petrograd prisons! This murder makes sixteen Romanoffs victims of the Bolsheviki. Just recently they killed the Grand Duchess Serge, sister-in-law of the unfortunate Emperor. Among the four Grand Dukes * * * who have now been put to death in prison are, I fear, two of my brothers. My brother George never meddled with politics. Separated by the war in 1914 from his wife and two daughters, left in London, he had only one wish-to see them again. As to Nicholas, he was well known to Paris; a learned historian, friend to many French academicians, a member of the Institute, a great admirer of France. To whom was he obnoxious? The four Grand Dukes were seven months in cells, fed three times a week, brutalized every day. I . But let us leave these horrors. would not speak of myself did I not think it was imperative to say what I have seen in our tortured Russia. After the abdication of the Czar I and my relatives, who were in the army, took the oath to support the temporary Government, and during some weeks we were permitted to live and attend to our duties. In March, 1917, we were deprived of our rank, and had to leave our posts. Some of us decided GRAND DUKE ALEXANDER it was not necessary to remain in Petrograd. I, for my part, went to an estate I had in the Crimea. It is a country house named Aitodor, on the seacoast about five miles from Yalta. My wife, the Grand Duchess Xenia, and all our children went with me. Also the Grand Duke Nicholas, the former Commander in Chief. Afterward the dowager Empress, mother of the Czar, a great friend of France, joined us. The first days were peaceful. The Grand Duke Nicholas lived in a small villa not far from mine, and we were comparatively unmolested, when, one fine night, two months after our arrival, 300 sailors and soldiers, sent from Sebastopol, broke into my house at 5:30 in the morning. They entered the bedroom of the dowager Empress, who was asleep, but they did not give her or my wife time to dress. As for me, I was dragged off by the soldiers, pistols in hand, and was shut up in my office and kept there for six hours. The house was searched. Naturally, nothing was discovered, for we had all acted in perfect good faith, and neither I nor any of my relatives had ever wished to engage in any conspiracy that could only serve to aggravate the disorder in our unhappy country. But to return to our life in the Crimea. The Bolsheviki seized the Government in November, 1917. Anarchy, which is their sole idea of administration, spread gradually to the Crimea. There was a Soviet at Yalta, and this Soviet appointed a Red Guard to watch us. We no longer had the right to occupy our own houses, and were forced to live all together in one house at Dulter with the Grand Duke Nicholas. Our life became wretched and our food scanty, for we were without money. We could not go a step without meeting sailors and soldiers, who overwhelmed us with curses. The month of April, 1918, was the worst of all. Here I recall the kindness of a man who was really sent us by Providence. The Bolshevik who commanded our guard was not a real Bolshevik. He was a revolutionist, opposed to the massacres. He served in the Aviation Corps during the war, and I had known him before. He was our guardian angel. Every time the Soviet of Yalta sent the inspecting officers this good man, but psuedo Bolshevik, treated us with such revolting severity as to gain the confidence of his superiors. When I saw him alone he talked frankly, and he tried to soften our lot. The simplest way was to satisfy the Soviet of Yalta by persuading them that, at the proper time, he himself would do all the killing. In April matters came to a climax. We had organized a sort of defense, for any night might bring the final tragedy, and each automobile that came might carry our assassins. We decided to protect ourselves. In a small house in the garden, reserved for the Bolshevist guard, we found some arms. We left them there, for had they been discovered with us we were lost. Four of us were chosen to go at the first alarm and get these arms. We planned some barricades. We were all former army officers, and our leader was once a Commander in Chief. We slept with our clothes on. Not all of us, however. I ought to say that the dowager Empress went to bed regularly every night and slept well. "My children," she said, "if we must die it makes little difference whether we die fully dressed or not. I have a feeling we shall all escape." My wife and my daughter Irene, wife of Prince Yossoupoff, also kept up their spirits. As for me, I thought our end was certain. I knew from our faithful Bolshevik that on May 1 the Soviet of Yalta intended to celebrate "Labor Day" by the massacre of 2,500 citizens. Useless to add that we would be among the first. The evening before, on April 30, the Germans arrived, not to rescue us, but because it was their plan to seize the Crimea. The Soviet of Yalta ran away. I pass over this part of the time, for the dowager Empress could not reconcile herself to being saved by Germans. She did her best to show we had never been in danger. Up to Nov. 17 the enemy occupied our country. Then they left, and my children, who were in the garden, came running to me with shouts of joy; it was the allied fleet we had waited for so long. Nearly a year before there had been a rumor that the Allies were at Constantinople. An immense hope took possession of us. Now that our allies were victorious, those by whose sides our army had fought with such courage and devotion, and for so many months; now that the French and the English were there Russia was saved. I am not in Paris to go into politics, but to give the facts. Yet let me say France has peremptory reasons for rescuing Russia. The first reason is that a Russia united and powerful and an ally is indispensable if France wishes to keep her position in the world. The second reason is that France has $4,000,000,000 loaned to Russia, and her small and numerous investors cannot afford to lose. The third reason is that you ought to take out of the hands of the Russian tyrants those who have been your friends to the last minute. You owe this to them, and it is in your power. If you do not intervene now you may be certain that Germany will, when ready. Beware of Germany. This people now at your mercy conceals a hatred that will show itself later on in Russia. It is for your own safety to hold out a friendly hand to Russia, now almost sinking into the blood and slime of anarchy. Peter the Great said: "A step backward is a step toward destruction." They talk of a League of Nations, of a union of all the peoples for peace. It is to be seen if these nations have not already committed suicide by neglecting so long the Russian situation, which threatens to disrupt the whole of civilization. THE The Japanese Army in Siberia HE official story of General Otani's Expeditionary Force in Siberia, with which the American troops under General Graves co-operated, was made public by the Japanese War Office at Tokio on Jan. 31, 1919. It has been translated for CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE by Jihei Hashiguchi, and is as follows: With the disintegration of Russia in 1917 the German and Austrian influence gradually spread through the Russian possessions, and armed interference in internal affairs at length became a marked feature of the situation. The Japanese Empire, from the viewpoint of self-defense, felt the urgent need of mobilization. In the meantime the Czechoslovak army became a strong factor in Siberia, particularly in the Vladivostok region, so that, in conformity with an American proposal, the War Office authorities, with the consent of the Government, on Aug. 5, 1918, recommended to his Majesty the Emperor that Japan dispatch to the maritime provinces a detachment of about 12,000 men under the commander of the 12th Division of the Japanese Army. At the same time they proposed to the allied nations, which intended to mobilize for the purpose of rescuing the Czechoslovak army, and to China, with which there were special relations in view of the Sino-Japanese military agreement, that the right of directing the joint military operations be intrusted to the commander of the Japanese Army. This proposal having been agreed upon, the staff of the Vladivostok Expeditionary Army was orThe instructions ganized and dispatched. given to the commander of the 12th Division, upon the dispatching of the staff, were that he should co-operate with the allied armies, rescue, and assist the Czech army, remove the German and Austrian agencies at work in the maritime provinces, and Gen maintain peace and order in those regions. The first body of the detachment departed from Moji and Ujina between Aug. 8 and 21 and was transported to Vladivostok. eral Otani, the commander, by an imperial order of Aug. 10, was instructed to prepare to direct the detachment under the commander of the 12th Division, and also the detachments sent by England, America, France, Italy, and China; to advance as soon as possible to the neighborhood of Khabarovsk, to guard important points on the Ussuri Railway line, and, circumstances permitting, to dispatch a portion of his forces westward along the and Amur Railway the Amur River. He left Tokio on Aug. 12, lånded in Vladivostok on Aug. 18, and assumed command of the allied armies. At that time the main body of the Czech Army was marching westward, while a portion of it, remaining along the Ussuri Railway, together with the British and French armies, was being pressed by the enemy, causing a situation verging on danger. Besides, for the allied armies to advance to Khabarovsk without worrying about their rear, there was, in the circumstances, a shortage of forces. General Otani, in conformity with the unanimous desire of the military leaders of the powers, reported this fact and requested the dispatch of a second body of Japanese troops under the commander of the 12th Division. The War Office authorities, with the consent of the Government, obtained the imperial permission to send the additional detachment. The Government notified the Allies of this fact. The troops under the commander of the 12th Division had been steadily landing in Vladivostok since Aug. 11. Because of the enemy's pressure with superior forces, and because the Czech Army and the British and French armies co-operating in the maritime provinces were in a rather dangerous situation, the commander of the 12th Division, in order to rescue these friendly armies from imminent danger, decided to attack the enemy at once, without waiting for the detachment under him to complete its landing. On Aug. 24 a daring engagement was fought in the neighborhood of Krasfesky. The enemy was severely beaten and repulsed. The allied troops at once changed their tactics to swift pursuit and commenced a northward advance along the Ussuri Railway. In this fight our dead and wounded numbered about 190. The enemy's dead abandoned on the battlefield numbered about 300. IN NORTH MANCHURIA General Semenoff's detachment, which had been fighting single-handed against the Bolshevists and the German and Austrian war prisoners in the direction of Trans-Baikalia, and which had been gradually pressed back by the enemy since July, 1918, at length retreated into the Chinese territory east of Manchuli. The Japanese residents in that The district were persecuted by the enemy. Japanese War Office authorities, with instructions from the Government, recommended to His Majesty the Emperor in the middle of August a mobilization of a portion of the guards stationed in Manchuria, and the Government notified the powers of that fact. Consequently, the Governor General of Kwantung, by an imperial command on Aug. 16, dispatched a detachment of about one mixed brigade under Lieut. Gen. Fujii to Manchuli to protect the Japanese residents there. Another detachment was ordered to to advance between Harbin and prepare Khailar, to reinforce the Fujii detachment when circumstances permitted. With the progress of the Imperial Japanese Army's operations in the maritime provinces, the Czech army in those districts had been enabled to establish communications with the friendly forces in Western Siberia and to advance gradually westward. But at that time the strength of the enemy in the TransBaikal was very great, so that one army alone could not hope to break through the lines. enemy The Czechs repeatedly requested rescue and assistance from us; but the detachment dispatched from Manchuria was very weak, and it was too much to Even expect it to cope with the situation. if an attempt were made to transfer a portion of the Vladivostok forces, the situation in that region would be impaired; hence that was impossible. If abandoned, the Semenoff army might be annihilated by the enemy's superior strength and the inclement weather. Accordingly the Japanese Government yielded to the earnest request of that army, and, seeing the necessity of opening the route before the Winter season set in, the War Office authorities in the latter part of August recommended to the Emperor the dispatching of a force under the commander of the 3d Division. The Government so notified the Allies. TWO MONTHS' FIGHTING The Czech Army in the maritime provinces gradually moved westward, and, along the Chinese Eastern Railway west of Harbin, with the help of Japanese, readjusted the military situation. The Fujii detachment on Aug. 26 completed its concentration of forces in the neighborhood of Manchuli, and the Semenoff detachment thereby recovered its spirit, and, repulsing the enemy, marched into Trans-Bailkal Province. The enemy in that region was very active and often destroyed the network of our communications; but a portion of the Fujii detachment always succeeded in repulsing the enemy. On Sept. 1, for the sake of rescuing and assisting the Czech Army, the detachment under the commander of the 3d Division was dispatched in the direction of Trans-Baikalia. With the reinforcement of the Fujii detachment the Semenoff and Czech Armies, advancing toward the Trans-Baikal, were en EASTERN SIBERIA, SCENE OF OPERATIONS OF JAPANESE AND ALLIED FORCES abled on Sept. 2 to establish on the bank of the Onon River communications with the Czech forces that had come from Central Siberia. In the Amur Province and the maritime provinces the advance detachment of the 12th Division, (including the Kalmuikoff detachment of Russians,) after the battle of Krasnoevsk in the latter part of August, marched at top speed about 250 miles further, and on Sept. 4 occupied Khabarovsk. Thereupon, the military activities of the allied admies in the Far Eastern Russian possessions were brought to a glorious termination. The steps which the Japanese War Office authorities then recommended to the Emperor and took were as follows: 1. The Vladivostok Expeditionary Army shall engage in maintaining peace and order in the maritime provinces, and with needed forces shall at once annihilate the enemy in Amur Province. 2. From North Manchuria, a detachment commanded by Major Gen. Funabashi (based upon two battalions of infantry of the 7th Division) shall be dispatched in the direction of the Amur River to cooperate with the Vladivostok Expeditionary Forces. 3. The detachment under the commander of the 3d Division, already ordered to be dispatched, shall be stationed at strategic points in Trans-Baikal Province to maintain order there, and shall send needed forces occasionally along the Amur Railway to co-operate with the Vladivostok Expeditionary Army. 4. The Fujii detachment shall support the Czech and Semenoff armies in their westward advance, and shall facilitate the activities of the detachment under the commander of the 3d Division in the direction of Trans-Baikal Province. After the arrival of the 3d Division, it shall reorganize itself as a part of the 7th Division and engage in guarding and watching North Manchuria. 5. With the expansion of the area of military activity, the need has been felt to readjust the machinery in the rear to engage in duties of communications, sanitation, supply, &c., so that needed forces shall be sent. The advanced unit of the 12th Division, (the Yamada detachment and the Nose detachment, the former including a portion of the American and Chinese Armies and the Kalmuikoff detachment, which used the Amur Railway and later sailed up the Amur River on captured ships); the Narabara detachment sent out by Lieut. Gen. Fujii from Trans-Baikal Province of his own accord, and the Junabashi detachment sent from North Manchuria in the direction of Heiho River-all these advanced side by side from east, west, and south, to press the enemy along the Amur Railway. They fought hard and unitedly, and, swiftly advancing, occupied the Amur Railway, which fell completely into their hands on Sept. 22. The enemy facing the allied forces first formed his camps in the southern regions of Khabarovsk and appeared to be trying to collect tens of thousands of men from different directions in Blagovestchensk in order to strike again. But because of the swift pursuit of the Allies he lost his oppor |