RED MILLIONS OF RUSSIA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 205, 24 May 1919, Page 2

RED MILLIONS OF RUSSIA

- 'VAST FORCES THAT LACK " AVEAPONS.Interesting information of the military conditions in. Soviet Eugsia havo been obtained by tho "Daily News" from two well-informed; Riis'sians. who liavo recently, returned to Paris from Petrograd via, the Ukraine and Poland. ' Undoubtedly by far the most important man. from a military point of view is Trotsky, without whom the Red Army could not'havo been organised, and'whosb death would mean' thti llownfall of-, tho Bolshevik, regime, "•

The figures -officially quoted %y.,Trotsky showing that his.. Red Arniy is already one ..million' strong are : not an- overestimate, and his statement that by. the spring of this year he. will havo mobilised about thrcß million men is also probable;, but an." effective army of this colossal number is quite impossible owing to lack of guns, rillcs, m'unitions, ami equipment... In ' addition the percentagb of deserters, mainly from tho tducaters and peasant classe?, is very high. As a typical instance, a Soviet regiment ordered to the Finnish front left its barracks 1200 strong; at. the Petrograd Finnish' station it was 700 strong; on arrival at tho front it'was 500, strong.

At present, tlie mainstays of tho llolshnvik. Government .'hre tho Chinese una Lett, regiments. The former -were .recruited for labour purposes from Chinese coolies by the. lato Imperial.Government during -the • war. Thoir position became worse and worse 1917..and 1918, when public.-works practically ceaaed and tho return of the 6oldiers from tho front deprived them of. work. The Bolshevik! toik advantage of this, and offered them high pay and largo rations if they woiilrt enter the International Regiments aim. light for tho Bolshevik cause. The Lett regiments aro composed ot genuine liolslieviki, and they fully realise tlint their only hope lies, in tho rauiriten. unce of . Bolsh'cvik rule, sinco their own countrymen in Livonia have banished them for ever, and anti-Bolshevik Russia would give them short shrift after all tho atrocities they have committed. Tho Red Army, despite Trotsky's efforts to make it efficient, has not ye; emerged from tho stage of organisation. It is still scarcely deserving of tho name of an army, mid would.be more .fitly described as consisting of well-orgauiscc! guerrilla bands. In the infantry the lack of rilies, munitions, and clothing is very acute. In the cavalry, great numbers of horses havo.died from lack of fodder, and this problem is most serious, Further, most of tho cavalrymen aro old soldiers of the Regular Army, and their loyalty to the Bulshoviki is very doubtful. 'rim artillery is very weak. There aro. practically no heavy guns,• while tho field guns aro speedily deteriorating owing to careless U6O and tho impossibility of replacement. Few new guns can be obtained. •