Description

This is the amazing, true-life story of an American trapped behind enemy lines during the Russian Revolution. Even more amazing is the story of how this diary found its way to print.

Filament Bookclub member Ken Hitzeman from South Dakota found a leather diary in a box of various items from a garage sale. Intrigued, he began reading ... and this is the story that unfolded from the neatly typed pages.

L. R. Hiatt, attached to the YMCA, documents the closing days of the Russian Czars and the Red Army's push through the surprisingly vibrant Siberian countryside. There are wonderful candid shots throughout the diary that are reproduced here.

Do yourself a favor and step back in time ... and read along as Hiatt stays one step ahead of one adventure after another.

Table of Contents

Part I

November 1919

December 1919

January 1920

February 1920

March 1920

Part II

The Story of the Crook

REEL NUMBER ONE

REEL NUMBER TWO

REEL NUMBER THREE

REEL NUMBER FOUR

REEL NUMBER FIVE

REEL NUMBER SIX

REEL NUMBER SEVEN

November 1919

[1] 

In the fall of 1919 I was employed by the International Committee of the Young Men's Christian association as an alleged agricultural expert, and was on duty in Siberia.

The Bolshevik army was massed in the general line of the Ural mountains, faced by a czarist army, led by Admiral Kolchak. When this diary began I was at Tomsk, then the point farthest north in Siberia on a railroad. Tomsk lies 3,000 inland, west of Vladivostock

*******

Nov. 5. - The situation is now very quiet. Last week we had the news of the fall of Tobolsk to the Bolshevik army. We are assured now, however, that the situation at the front will probably not change much for the winter. Considerable snow has fallen and it is rapidly growing colder. The Reds are still more than a hundred [versts] west of Omsk. The White army is concentrated at the front, and the soldiers are said to be in good spirits, well clothed, fed, and armed.

[2]

Red soldiers with machine guns.

Nov. 7. - The fall of Omsk is not expected by official informers. [here.] There are many big guns which have been placed at the strategic points of defense in the city. There is a large supply of ammunition, and sufficient men to man the defenses.

News from other sources, however, is more disquieting. For example, on General Graves' return from Omsk last month, a report came from his party that the General, in company with Ambassador Morris, in charge of diplomatic affairs in Japan, had made a trip in an armored train to inspect the front, and had been unable to find it. The report stated further that Kolchak attempted to dissuade them in their desire to go to the front.

I talked with a Russian captain yesterday who had just returned from the west, and he insisted that there was no front. He said the soldiers in the White army were billeted in the villages; that when the Reds advanced, the White soldiers either moved on to the next town, or deserted to the Red army.

Nov. 9. - Yesterday and today there have been lectures given to soldiers and civilians concerning the military situation. These lecturers are purported to come from General Denekin, in European Russian. General Denekin states that he knows the situation is bad in Siberia, but that the situation in Russia is very favorable, and asks the Siberians to take heart.

The city of Tomsk is plastered with rather belated and glaring posters, urging men to join the army in order to defeat the forces of crime and despoilment, which the Reds are represented as being. One poster shows

An armored train. This belonged to the Czechs, and was called the Orlik.

[3]

Scene in a city park in Siberia

hideous-looking Chinese in the uniform of the Red soldier, marching along with Russian babies on the points of their bayonets. Another shows a Siberian peasant leaving his cottage and his land, to join the colors.

All available buildings are filled with sick and wounded soldiers. Thousands of soldiers are here with typhus. Several units of infantry, cavalry, and artillery are here in training. There is also a cadet training school for army officers.

OMSK TO FALL?

----

Nov. 10. - The news comes that all of the Allied representatives at Omsk have departed for the East, and that the Kolchak ministry has arrived in Irkutsk and have set up their government there.

The 6th regiment of the Czech army in Siberia has also evacuated Omsk. This is the most westerly unit of the Czech army. Their evacuation from Omsk is taken by the Czechs to presage the certain downfall of Omsk.

There are three divisions of infantry of four regiments each, one division of cavalry, and one division of artillery, besides the general staff, and provision trains and special units, of the Czech army, between Omsk and

A machine-gunner from Von Coppel's retreating White Army, Siberia, 1919-20.

[4]

Ice formed by Angara river waters at source in Lake Baikal.

Vladivostock, who presumably will have to evacuate or fight, in case the Reds capture Omsk and proceed eastward.

The papers say that Admiral Kolchak has announced to his troops that he will remain with the army until the last. Common report has it that he has joined the army as is fighting as a common soldier.

Evacuation of the civilian population of Omsk has already begun and every available engine and car is being used to the limit in carrying refugees eastward.

HOW CZECHS LIVE

----

The Czechs are living in their cars on the tracks, where they have been all summer. The officers live in third or fourth class passenger cars, and the men live in Russian freight cars.

This life is not so difficult in summer as in winter. In summer the men can be out-of-doors most of the time during the day and need only to stay in their cars at night. Twelve to thirty soldiers live in a car, one-half the size of an American freight car.

Ice scenes - Lake Baikal - Siberia. [hand printed]

[5]

Ice formed at mouth of Angara river, emptying Lake Baikal.

The cars open in the middle of the sides. There is an open corridor crossways of the car about four or five feet wide. In either end there are two sleeping shelves, one above the other, made of rough boards, two inches thick. On these shelves the men sleep, eat, and visit.

The Czechs have built an outdoor theater in the edge of the white birch forest near their echelons at Tomsk, where, during the summer they entertained themselves with movies, theatrical performances, and musical entertainments.

Food is plentiful in Tomsk, as is warm clothing, but prices are very high for the Russians. It costs 65-75 roubles to ride five versts in a carriage. Before the rouble suffered the impact of the war it was worth 52 cents. A very poor meal in a restaurant costs 50-75 roubles. Wages of skilled workmen range from 600-1200 roubles a month, and that of unskilled labor considerably less.

Theatrical and musical performances are given frequently, and play to packed houses. Classical opera are given by artists who have fled Moscow and Petrograd, and some of the exhibitions are most excellent.

The people are fairly well clothed, and many women appear on the streets in fashionable clothing of fine quality. There does not seem to be any suffering from the cold. There is plenty of wood and coal, and the houses are warmly built.

Near Vladivostock Harbor.

[6]

A boat enters Vladivostock Harbor in February, 1920

Nov. 15. - Today there is nothing in the papers about the military situation. The rumor is that Omsk has fallen.

Nov. 16. The Czechs officially announce the fall of Omsk to the Red army. It is rumored that the Bolsheviks are already 150 versts (about .6 mile) (that is, one verst equals .6 mile) east of Omsk. The White army blew up the large railroad bridge across the Om river just west of Omsk, just before they left. The river is now frozen, however, and this will delay only slightly the advance of the Reds. It is said that the Whites (Kolchak's army) set fire to great stores of army supplies just before evacuating Omsk.

The Czechs will evacuate Novo-Nikoliavsk (the largest city between Omsk and Tomsk) and Tomsk as soon as the echelons can be moved east.

******

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