THE LATEST ALLIES

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 41, 16 August 1918, Page 6

THE LATEST ALLIES

The politico-military tangle in Russia grows in complexity. In that great Eurasian land-mass the Allies have now three spheres of action: (1) The Murnian Coast, the centre o£ a counter-move to the Germanisation of Finland (where, according to to-day's telegrams, the Germans are inclined to force the pace); (2) Eastern Siberia, where an Allied force led by Japan is mobilising on or near the littoral; (3) Eastern Russia and parts of interior Siberia, held by our new Allies, the Czecho-Slovaks. How potent a force diplomacy can be is shown by the alliance with the Czecho-Slovaks, which thus creates a new Allied front by a stroke of the pen. Politically, this is—as we endeavoured to explain yesterday in War Notes—one of the big events of the war, pregnant with meaning for the Hapsburg Empire-Kingdom, as well as for the Russian Slavs. Militarily, however, it is an unknown factor. Though the Czecho-Slovak army or armies have been in action for months, operating more or lees "in the air" in the heart of an alien country, the mystery of their munitionment,' and continued existence as an effective fighting organisation, has in no way been expounded. Whether they'will continue to do the apparently impossible, long enough to enable the Siberian expedition to link up and support them—that is the test question. If it is destined to be answered affirmatively, this unique alliance with the Czecho-Slovaks in their peculiar exile must become a politicomilitary factor of the highest import.

If disaffected Hapsburg soldiers who surrender can be called prisoners, then the Czecho-Slovaks must be classed as ex-prisoners of anti-German leaning, who have become the nucleus body of Russian adherents. Against them are other exprisoners, German or' pro-German, who appear to have munitional advantages; against them also are the Bolsheviks. After a good deal of hesitation, mostly located in Washington, the Allies as a whole have endorsed a Japanese-led Siberian expedition, whose immediate object is to support the Czecho-Slovaks; they have also endorsed the Murman or North Russian occupation, the immediate purpose of which is to keep the Germans from the sea. On the top of these "grave decisions" comes, like a bolt from the blue, the Czecho-Slovak Alliance, of which—judging by Professor Masaryk's tribute—Mr. Balfour is the diplomatic father. Apparently America is not yet included in the new alliance, but is included in the new declaration of war launched by Lenin. If Washington is hesitant, that hesitation is. due not to any lack of sympathy for the Czechoslovaks, but to the old uncertainty about consequential effects in Asia, plus official doubt as to the military value of Eastward diversions. Probably Lenin's declaration—if, as appears, it includes the United States—will force Washington's hand, and bring all the Allies once more into line in the Eastern theatre. But the new situation in the East is still in its infancy, particularly from the military standpoint; and it is impossible to anticipate events. They will be conditioned, on the Allied side, by the military demands in the West; and Germany's advantageous possession of the interior lines in Europe ■will remain a prime factor in the problem.

[Late news to hand suggests a fourth Russian front at the Caspian ;oil-port Baku, where British troops have arrived. This surprise explains the fog of war that for months has enwrapped Persia. But the strength of the Baku expedition, which is intended to hearten the antiGerman and anti-Turkish forces in the Caspian region, is unknown.]