Part 8

AERIAL RECORD

James Ian Macpherson, Parliamentary Secretary of the British War Office, announced in the British Commons on March 19 that 255 flights into Germany, constituting 38 raids, had been made since last October, and that forty-eight tons of bombs had been dropped.

Italians bombed Metz on the nights of March 17 and March 23 and the railway station at Thionville on March 24.

Paris was raided on the night of April 12 and twenty-six were persons killed and seventy-two wounded.

Bombs were dropped on the east coast of England on the night of April 12. Five persons were killed and fifteen injured.

NAVAL RECORD

Ostend was bombarded by British monitors on March 21. On the same day two German destroyers and two torpedo boats were sunk off Dunkirk by British and French destroyers.

The Alexander Agassiz, a small boat formerly of American registry, which was outfitted by the Germans at Mazatlan for service as a raider, was captured in the Pacific Ocean by an American cruiser on March 19.

The Belgian relief ship Flandres was sunk by a mine on April 11.

The German transport Frankland struck a mine and sank at Noorland, March 22, and all on board, including Admiral von Meyrer, were drowned.

Ten German trawlers were sunk by the British in the Cattegat on April 15.

RUSSIA, RUMANIA, AND POLAND

Leon Trotzky asked the American military mission for ten American officers to aid as inspectors in organizing and training a new volunteer army, and requested the aid of American railway engineers and transportation experts in the reorganization of the railways, March 20. The same day he addressed the Moscow Soviet, calling for a new army of from 300,000 to 750,000, commanded by trained officers.

Japanese and British marines were landed at Vladivostok on April 5, following the invasion of a Japanese office by five armed Russians, who killed one Japanese and wounded two others. The Siberian Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates protested to the Consular Corps, but the Japanese representatives at Vologda explained that the landing was only a local incident and that Admiral Kato had acted on his own initiative.

The Trans-Caucasian Constituent Assembly, in session at Tiflis on March 21, refused to ratify the peace treaty with Germany, and urged immediate war. On March 29 the Caucasus Diet approved the basis of a separate peace agreement with Turkey, including autonomy for Armenia and the restoration of old frontiers.

The Armenians and Georgians refused to recognize the cession of territory made under the Brest-Litovsk treaty, and on April 3 fierce fighting broke out in the districts of Batum, Kars, and Ardahan, as the Turks began military occupation. The Georgians seized most of the Russian warships in the Harbor of Batum and took them into the Black Sea. On April 4 the Armenians recaptured Erzerum from the Turks, and on April 7 the Turks took Ardahan from the Armenian forces.

Alexander Marghiloman, leader of the Conservatives, was appointed Premier of Rumania March 20. On the same day Germany announced the extension of the armistice until March 22.

On March 21 Germany increased her demands on Rumania, calling for the surrender of all war munitions. Austria demanded the surrender of all territory west of a line extending from a point east of Red Tower Pass to a point on the Danube near Ghilramar, and also a strip of country eighty miles long and ten miles wide in the region of Predeal. On March 23 Germany again extended the armistice because of a delay in the formation of the Rumanian Cabinet. On March 29 Germany demanded that the Rumanian oil wells be turned over to a German-controlled corporation.

German forces continued their advance in Ukraine, taking Kherson on March 21 and burning Poltava on March 31. The Ukrainian Rada protested against the German demand for 85 per cent. of the country's grain supply and practically all of the sugar supply, March 27. On April 5 the Bolshevist Government protested against the invasion by German and Ukrainian troops of Kursk Province.

Finland protested to the German Government, March 29, against the arrest of Major Henry Crosby Emery, representative of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York, and his detention on the Aland Islands.

British and French troops were reported on March 31 to be co-operating with the Bolshevist troops in the defense of the Kola and Mourmansk troops against the Finnish White Guards. German troops were landed in Finland April 3, and on the same day the Finnish White Guards captured Tammerfors. The Russian fleet escaped from Helsingfors on April 7. On April 8 Germany sent an ultimatum demanding the removal or disarmament of all Russian warships in Finnish waters by April 12, and on April 11 a German squadron, with several transports, arrived at Lovisa.

On April 14 German troops took Hyving and Finnish White Guards took Bjoerneborg. Helsingfors was occupied by the Germans on April 15.

Abo was evacuated by the Red Guards on April 16.

MISCELLANEOUS

President Poincaré refused to pardon Bolo Pacha, April 7, and the next day the condemned man made a statement concerning other treason cases, thus gaining a reprieve. He was executed on the morning of April 17.

Holland refused the Allies' terms for the transfer of Dutch ships and demanded guarantees that they would not be used for troops or munitions. On March 20 President Wilson issued a proclamation ordering their seizure. The Netherlands Government protested in a statement which appeared in the Official Gazette March 30. On April 1 President Wilson issued an order authorizing the Navy Department to take possession of all equipment and cargoes. Secretary Lansing replied to the Netherlands Government in a statement issued on April 13.

Premier Lloyd George addressed the British House of Commons on April 9 on the military situation and the man-power problem. He asked that the services of every able-bodied man between the ages of 18 and 50 be placed at the disposal of the Government and advocated conscription in Ireland. Leave to introduce the man-power bill was carried in the House. The next day the second reading was carried, and on April 12 the bill was passed. On the same day Sir Horace Plunkett submitted to Lloyd George his report on the Irish Convention's plan for home rule. The third reading of the man-power bill was passed by the House of Lords April 17.

Mme. Despina Davidovitch Storch, a woman of Turkish birth; Baron Henri de Beville, Mrs. Elizabeth Charlotte Nix, and a man who called himself Count Robert de Clairmont were arrested in New York City on March 18 on suspicion of being members of an international spy system working in the interests of Germany. President Wilson ordered their deportation to France. Mme. Storch died of pneumonia at Ellis Island on March 30.

Lieutenants Calamaras and Hodjopoulos, who landed in Greece from a German submarine to act as agents of ex-King Constantine, and who planned to arrange a spy system and establish a naval base, were executed on March 30.

The Supreme War Council of the Allies issued a statement on March 18 condemning German political crimes against the Russian and Rumanian peoples, refusing to acknowledge Germany's peace treaties with them, and announcing their purpose to establish a reign of organized justice.

General Ferdinand Foch was made Generalissimo of all the allied forces on the western front on March 28. A definite official announcement of his appointment as Commander in Chief, with enlarged powers, was made on April 15.

Russia Under German Domination

Record of a Month's Events The Russo-German peace treaty, signed by the Bolshevist plenipotentiaries on March 3, 1918, and ratified at a session of the All-Russian Soviet Congress held in Moscow on March 14-16, was approved, after a prolonged discussion, by the Main Committee of the German Reichstag on March 22.

Discussing the situation created in Russia by the Brest-Litovsk pact, a Petrograd daily remarks that, while the rest of the world has secret diplomacy and open war, Russia has open diplomacy and secret war. In fact, the final ratification of the "peace" instrument by both sides did not put an end to the military operations of the Central Powers in Russia. Nor did the Russians cease to make feeble and sporadic attempts at resistance.

In the third week of March the fall of Petrograd seemed imminent, but the transfer of the Government to Moscow and the partial evacuation of the northern capital by the civil population apparently changed the objective of the invading German troops to the ancient Russian metropolis. They began to march on Moscow from northwest, west, and southwest, but stopped within the distance of approximately 150 miles from that city. For the last three weeks practically no fighting has been going on in the north of Russia, except occasional guerrilla skirmishes and punitive expeditions, conducted by the Germans and the propertied classes. On the other hand, in the south the Austro-German invaders have been vigorously pushing on, ostensibly under the pretext of assisting the friendly Ukrainian nation in its struggle against the Soviet power.

By March 20 the Teutons were in possession of the whole of Western Ukraine west of the Dnieper. Among other cities they held Zhitomir, Kiev, Nikolayev, and Odessa. The latter city, the most important commercial seaport in Russia, was reported to have been occupied by four Austro-German regiments without a shot. Kherson was taken March 21. On March 27, the semi-official Russian news agency announced that the Soviet and Ukrainian troops, assisted by naval forces, recaptured Odessa. According to an earlier report, Kherson, Nikolayev, and Znamenka were also recaptured by Red Guards and armed civilians. The retaking of Odessa was officially denied by Vienna, and the city is apparently in the hands of the Teutons at this writing (April 18). They are reported to have seized large stores of war materials at Odessa, and 2,500 ships at Nikolayev, which is a port on the Black Sea, with vast docks for building warships. The Austro-Germans also took Poltava, situated midway between the Dnieper and Donetz, and set it on fire. The capture of Poltava was followed (April 8) by that of Yekaterinoslav and Kharkov, the former seat of the Bolshevist Rada.

On April 11 the invaders occupied the small city of Lgov, 130 miles northwest of Kharkov, and an ultimatum was sent to the City of Kursk, demanding its surrender. Both towns are situated in the province of Kursk, which lies beyond the Russo-Ukrainian border as defined by the Central Powers.

The march of the Teutons, coupled with their requisitions of food products, seemed to arouse a good deal of dissatisfaction among the peasants and workmen in the Ukraine. It is reported that the Rada, which had invited the Germans, requested them to stop the advance of their troops, but their request was not heeded. The behavior of the Teutons in Kiev led to a clash between the Ukrainian authorities and the German commandant. The demand of the Austro-Germans that the Ukraine should furnish them 85 per cent. of its grain and all its sugar except that needed for local consumption was particularly resented. On April 7 the Bolshevist Foreign Minister Chicherin signified to the German Government his willingness to open peace negotiations with the Ukraine. According to some advices the Rada wished to form a federated alliance with the Russian Republic.

IN THE CAUCASUS

Article 4 of the Russo-German treaty provides for the evacuation by the Russian troops of the districts of Erivan, Kars, and Batum, (in the Caucasus,) and the reorganization of these districts in agreement with Turkey. The Transcaucasion Constituent Assembly, meeting in Tiflis, refused to recognize the peace with the Central Powers and pronounced itself in favor of a war against them. On March 29 it was reported that the local Diet declared the independence of the Caucasus and approved the project of a separate peace with Turkey. But when, several days later, the Turks began the military occupation of the Caucasian districts mentioned in the Brest-Litovsk treaty, the Armenians and Georgians rose against the invaders. On April 4 the Armenians were said to have recaptured Erzerum, in Turkish Armenia, which Russia evacuated after the conclusion of peace. Before the Caucasian uprising Turkey officially announced its intention to send troops to restore order in the Crimea. It was reported that massacres of Armenians were resumed by the Turks and that many thousand women and children had been butchered.

On April 14 the Russian Government forwarded to Germany a protest of the Armenian National Council, addressed to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the President of the Reichstag. The document reads in part:

Following upon the withdrawal of the Russian troops Turkish troops already have invaded the undefended country and are not only killing every Turkish Armenian, but also every Russian in Armenia.

In spite of the terms of the peace treaty, which recognizes the right of self-determination for these Caucasian regions, the Turkish Army is advancing toward Kars and Ardahan, destroying the country and killing the Christian population. The responsibility for the future destiny of the Armenians lies entirely with Germany because it was Germany's insistence that resulted in the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Armenian regions, and at the moment it rests with Germany to prevent the habitual excesses of the Turkish troops, increased by revengefulness and anger.

INTERNAL SITUATION

The internal situation in Russia proper remains uncertain, nor have any definite changes taken place in the mood of the people or in the Governmental policies of the Bolsheviki. It is charged that the Bolshevist Government suppressed the full text of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. On April 10 the Commissioner of Commerce of the Bolsheviki announced that under the terms of the peace treaty Russia had suffered the following losses:

Seven hundred and eighty thousand square kilometers (301,000 square miles) of territory.

Fifty-six million inhabitants, constituting 32 per cent, of the entire population of the country.

One-third of Russia's total mileage of railways, amounting to 21,530 kilometers, (13,350 miles.)

Seventy-three per cent. of the total iron production.

Eighty-nine per cent. of the total coal production.

Two hundred and sixty-eight sugar refineries, 918 textile factories, 574 breweries, 133 tobacco factories, 1,685 distilleries, 244 chemical factories, 615 paper mills, 1,073 machine factories.

These territories, which now become German, formerly brought in annual revenue amounting to 845,238 rubles, and had 1,800 savings banks.

The alarming sweep of the Teutonic invasion, together with the growing realization of what the Brest-Litovsk agreement really means to Russia, seemed finally to arouse some spirit of resistance in the Russian masses. Patriarch Tikhon declared that the Russian Church could not recognize a peace dismembering the country and subjecting it to a foreign power. Since the ratification the spokesmen of the Bolshevist Government have not ceased talking of organizing a large army for a new war. The prevalent Bolshevist opinion is that the new revolutionary army should be used, in the words of the semi-official Bolshevist organ Pravda, "not to strengthen, as the imperialists calculate, this or that bourgeois front, but to turn the front of the world war into a front of the workers' and soldiers' revolution."

TALK OF NEW ARMY

In March it was reported that four of the People's Commissaries had gone south to organize troops for guerrilla warfare. This idea, however, was soon abandoned. Trotzky insisted upon the necessity of having a strictly disciplined army of 300,000 to 750,000 men, under regular officers. "We cannot," he said, "preserve the illusion that European capital will patiently suffer the fact that in Russia the power is in the hands of the working class. * * * We are surrounded by enemies on all sides. If it were proposed to France to return Alsace, the French Bourse would sell Russia tomorrow." On April 2 M. Podvoisky, Assistant Commissary of War, stated that Russia would form an army of 1,500,000 men, and that the Red Army of Volunteers was steadily growing. The army organization has been changed with a view to limiting the application of the elective principle. According to some reports the Bolsheviki are hoping to have an army of 500,000 by the Fall. Some of the leaders went so far as to advocate compulsory military service. On April 10 Leon Trotzky was appointed joint Minister of War and Marine.

On the previous day the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets unanimously passed a resolution ruling that henceforth Russia's national flag would be a red banner bearing the inscription: "_Rossiyskaya, Sotzialisticheskaya Federativnaya Sovetskaya Respublika_," (Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.) Proposing the measure, the Chairman said: "The Russian flag will have to wave over the embassies in Berlin and Vienna and we cannot have the old tricolor, so I think it most proper to adopt the red flag under which we fought and gained victory."

BESSARABIA AND RUMANIA

An important event has taken place in the southwestern corner of the former Russian Empire, in the rich province of Bessarabia, where separatist tendencies have recently made themselves strongly felt. A Berlin dispatch, dated April 11, announced that the Bessarabian Diet had voted, 86 against 5, that Bessarabia should join the Kingdom of Rumania. Thereupon, the Ukrainian Premier filed a protest in Russia against this act, stating that the Ukraine must have her say in the settlement of Bessarabia's fate in view of the fact that this province has a large Ukrainian population and that the Ukraine is controlling an important region on the Black Sea adjacent to Bessarabia.

The Council of the People's Commissaries was notified on April 9 that the Province of Kazan, situated in the east of European Russia and having a population of 2,000,000, had been proclaimed an independent republic by the Congress of Peasants of that region.

RUSSIA AND THE ALLIES

The Entente did not acknowledge the Russo-German peace. In a statement issued March 18 through the British Foreign Office the Governments of Great Britain, France, and Italy voiced their protest against "the political crimes which, under the name of a German peace, have been committed against the Russian people." Ambassador David R. Francis, when asked whether he would leave Russia in consequence of the ratification of the peace treaty, gave the following reply:

I shall not leave Russia until compelled by force. The American Government and people are too deeply interested in the prosperity of the Russian people for them to abandon Russia to the Germans. America is sincerely interested in the liberty of the Russian people and will do everything possible to safeguard the real interests of the country.

If the brave and patriotic Russian people will forget political differences for the time being and act resolutely and vigorously, they will be able to drive the enemy from their territory, and by the end of 1918 bring a lasting peace for themselves and the whole world. America still counts itself an ally of the Russian people, and we shall be ready to help any Government which organizes a vigorous resistance to the German invasion.

The French, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Serbian, Belgian, Brazilian, Greek, Portuguese, and Siamese representatives, who left Russia when the treaty with Germany was signed, joined the American Ambassador (who did not leave the country) at Vologda, 300 miles northeast of Moscow, late in March. A dispatch dated March 20 says: "There has been a marked change in the attitude of the Allies toward the Soviet Government. * * * There are many signs of renewed co-operation between Russia and the Allies." The dispatch also quotes M. Chicherin, the Bolshevist Foreign Minister, as saying that "Russia's relations with the Entente are unchanged."

At the same time Trotzky approached the American military mission, established in Moscow, asking it to assist Russia in organizing a volunteer army and in improving the country's transportation. On March 27 the Petit Parisien published a statement to the effect that Trotzky had also asked the French to assist him in organizing military resistance to the Germans. A leading article in Premier Clemenceau's L'Homme Libre contained the following statement: "The Entente, as long as the war lasts, will regard Russia, the one and indivisible Russia which signed the pact of London, as an ally."

Russia also reckons on the Allies, especially America, for support in rehabilitating her industries and developing her resources. A large order for agricultural machinery has been placed in the United States, and the shipping of the goods has already begun. According to a London dispatch the Bolsheviki are sending a commission to the United States to settle Russia's accounts with American firms and make arrangements for future trade relations.

THE JAPANESE LANDING

After Russia's collapse, and especially after her capitulation, Japan's intervention in Siberia was a subject of lively discussion in the allied countries. Persistent rumors were circulated by the press to the effect that large masses of armed and organized Teuton prisoners, numbering at least 150,000 men, were ready to seize the Trans-Siberian railroad and menace the military stores accumulated in Vladivostok. These rumors were declared by the Bolshevist authorities to be a part of the propaganda to bring disrepute on the Soviet power and encourage Japanese intervention, which Lenine's Government regards as an encroachment of world imperialism upon Socialist Russia.

On Friday, April 5, two companies of Japanese sailors landed at Vladivostok. According to the report of the President of the Vladivostok Soviet, the landing was effected in the presence of the Japanese Consul and Admiral Kato, Japanese Marine Minister, without the consent of the other allied Consuls. Later in the day fifty British armed sailors were landed. There was also an unconfirmed report that American marines, too, were landed. On the next day 250 more Japanese sailors entered the city. In a proclamation issued at Vladivostok Admiral Kato explained that the step was taken because of the murder of a Japanese soldier and in order to protect the life and property of Japanese and allied subjects. The Vladivostok Soviet protested to the Consular Corps. Resolutions of protest were also passed by the Municipal Council and the local Zemstvo.