NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16308, 4 September 1918, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

►_ Of all tho men thrown up into world* wide prominence, on account of their misdeeds, by the world-wide war, History will possibly accord a high nlace to Lenin, tho Bolshevik Premier of Russia, who is reported to havo succumbed to tho effects of an attack made unon him by a woman revolutionary at Moscow last week —the third attempt on his life sinco ho assumed the leadership of the Bolsheviks. Kings havo from timo to time wrecked thoir kingdoms by their ambition—two Emperors are now, and have been for four years past, engaged in that task, which promises to be entirely successful—but never before has an individual of humble birth, not gifted with remarkable intellectual power, succeeded in tumbling an Empire of 180 millions into the mire of chaotic disorder and lawlessness as Lenin has done, nor has it been given to any man before him to cause such unutteralle misery as has followed the prolongation of tho war due to Russia's breach of faith with her Allies. Lenin not only broke Russia's power and mado her the scorn of her former Allies, and tho contempt of her foes, but having destroyed her as a fighting Power he tried, with some success, lo sell her to her enemies. How a man like Lenin ever achieved the position, and having achieved it, kept it, to inflict so much harm on l Hussia and the Entente Powers is tho great mystery of the war. Ho was a Socialist who under the old regime had to leave Russia because he was unable there to carry on his propaganda, and who lived to "be disowned by the orthodox Russian Socialists because, as trans- | lated into practice, his policy was the | negative of Socialism, absolutely lacking in any nretence at constructivene6s. He tried to rule alone, the leadotr of a wild mob which barely recognised his leadership, and ignored alike the counsel and the criticism of his colleagues. On leaving Russia he settled in Galicia, where he kept in touch with the then small Bolshevik party in tho Duma, and with the Ukrainian movement, whicii had for its object the independence of the Ukraine, and on that account was financed and encouragcd by Germany. It was by this channel that Lenin entered into friendly relations with the German' Government and the German police, a fact of which ho kept hjs Social Democrat friends in Russia ignorant. Oh the outbreak of war Lenin, as an eDemy subject, was arrested in Austria, but influence secured his release, and he was allowed to go to Switzerland, where he began his propaganda against the Entente Powers. This- was so much to Germany's taste that after the revolution, occurred ho was despatched to Russia at the cost of the German. Government, while German banks wero instj-ucted to supply him with the necessary funds for his work in Russia. Ho had a decidedly mixed reception at first, and in several places was refused a hearing, while one body of miners appealed to the Soviet to arrest him, and the printers of Sebastopol refused to print any of hife proclamations. It was due to him, however, that the Soviet decided that army officers should .bo elected by the soldiers, and that army discipline should be relaxed, fatal errors to which Kerensky foolishly gave his support. From that time may be said to date the demoralisation of the Russian army, which produced such profound consequences. Gradually the power of the Leninite faction increased, and though he was hunted out of Russia by Kerensky last July, tho poison he had instilled into the nation was at work, and November had hardly begun before Kerensky had fallen, and Lenin had seized the reins. What followed is too well known to need recapitulation at any length. The separate peace for which the Bolsheviks had bc-er. agitating was agreed upon nfc Brest-Litovsk in February, Lenin cynically justifying acceptance of Germany's humiliating terms by the assertion that the army was demoralised and refused to fight, a statement which was only too true, though he failed to add that the demoralisation was his own work. Tho treaty was denounced in many quarters, and led to an outbreak of civil war, a stato of things in which Lenin openly gloried, but which, it is hardly too much to say, passed almost unnoticed in the inconceivable anarchy which has for months prevailed throughout Russia. No reliance could be placed in the pretended attempta by the Bolshevik leaders to reorganise an armv which they had hopelessly disorganised, to combat the consequences of the treaty they had signed with Germany. But lately there have been manifest strong indications that the I nation was purging itself of its mad- ! ness, and that the end of _ the Bolshevik regime was approaching. The assassination of Lenin may hasten it. It is noteworthy in connexion with the fact that Lenin's assassin was a woman that as far back as last January Russia's Terrorist Committee, composed exclusively of women, passed sentence of death on Lenin and Trotzky, and 20 other Bolshevik leaders. The "Army behind the Army" has contributed notably to the success of the operations which are driving the Germans back to the Hindenbnrg line, or we may hope, to the Rhine. A correspondent at British Headquarters, as cabled the otjier day, spoke of the transport facilities following in the wake of tho advancing line, as a marvel of organisation. Trains were thencarrying troops and stores into places which a week previously were in enemy occupation. Cithers have told of tho network of strategic railways "which is continually growing up behind tbo advancing fighting line, making a system which compensates the Allies for the loss of the lines thoy had to destroy during tho retirement in March and April last. Little French villages never linked by rail with the larger cities are now said to have become in numerous cases great junctions through which train-loads of men, munitions, and supplies.pass every hour of tho day. According to one railway officer the Allies havo been for some months in a better position, frost

strategical point of view than they ■ere in the first battle of the Somme. Phere previously they had to rely on he railways which wound tediously round the country by devious routes, hey have now a great system of 'miliary railways which take supplies direct o where they are needed. Arid the ystem is continually extending, sendog out fresh lines of light railways into ■very reconquered district where none sists, until one could almost believe hat the railway engineers who have to hoose the routes and lay out the lines xe on the ground as soon as the vicorious Allied troops have passed beyond fc. In several directions the Allies are no loubt making use of the railways which hey destroyed during the great German iffensive, and which the enemy has since rat into something like working order. Chat, by the way, must have been what ihe Americans would describe as "some lob." In one of the sectors which has atelv figured : n the cables, that em>racsn« Achiet-le-Grand. Fremicourt, 7elu, (Jueant, and a number of other owns lying to the northward cf Bajaume, the work of destruction was acromplished by a Canadian railway cop■lruction unit in such a way as to win '<rr its members a shower of honours of lifferent kinds. Their instructions we~e: : 'Keep the lines clear, save the hig juns, then destroy everything." llnnv >f them worked like beavers' for days ind nights on end. The lines in many )laces had been broken by shell fire, ind had to bo repaired before the big ?uns could be brought eff, and then had :o be destroyed again to check the ;nemy. What that entailed may be judged trom the extract from the report of a pung Canadian officer at Fremicourt: "Repaired two breaks in line in order to get twelvc-inch "gun in action ac Velu. Repaired track from Fremisourt to Queant. After two hours brought gun back over four broken sections to Vaux Junction, where? it again went into action. Went into forward area and repaired breaks m sixteen places between Velu and Havrincourt in order to get ammunition trains out." On the second day Bihucourt had to be evacuated, and everything was loaded up on the construction trains except the concrete tennis courts. "Wo couldn't tak(« them, unfortunately," explained the colonel, "and besides thev were beinii used. Four sixty-pounders had found them useful, and were playing a hot set with the Huns." Another young officer near V elu, where some heavy howitzer batteries were keeping the Germans from the Nord Canal, reported: "Brought up tluco trucks of ammunition and kept track open to . Velu. Mended eight bad breaks between 8 and 10.30 (this was March 21st), then shifted the howitzers back to Fremicourt." That meant three trips over the hastily mended line, through heavy shell-fire, with fiftyton trucks, which once ditched could hardly have been got on the track again in time to be saved. By dint of tremendous exertions every big gun in the district had been salved forty-eight hours after the German attack began, and then the work of destruction went on uninterruptedly. The old French main line from Arras to Albert was blown up in ten places. Two culverts and three bridges were destroyed. The big yard at Achiet le Grand, one of the largest railway centres near the front, was laid waste. "I don't think the Huns could have found twenty yards of whole track," said the officer who was responsible. Water towers went flying into the air. It was a dangerous job, because the destroyers accompanied Ly lorries loaded with ammonal and guncotton, and German shells were falling around them. Now and then a party had to wait under fire until retreating troops had crossed a bridge before blowing it up. , One party heard that a certain section of the railway from Morlencourt had been overlooked, so although the Germans in their advance had passed the place, the engineers set off with tubes of explosives on their backs, to complete the work of destruction. Not one man of them was ever seen or heard of again, but their colonel was confident that they had not failed, and in view of the reputation of the Canadian Engineers Corps for courago, resourcefulness, and capability, he was probably right. ===== |