RUSSIANS IN FRANCE MUTINY.

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 February 1918, Page 8

RUSSIANS IN FRANCE MUTINY.

SUEIIENDmUIXBEE EIEE 1’ -ItAJiM xjIETiF. LFM 1 • AN OEEICIAL EEPOET. The following- account of mutiny among me xtussiau troops in x ranee is taken from tiie Manc lies tor "Uuardian, " wlncn states tnat tlie matter is drawn from, the oincial report, presented by tiie liussian Military Mission in France to tiie Provisional (government, and recently published by tiie Provisional (jovernmenc in tiie Eussiau PreSs : Soon after the revolution liad broken out in Eussia, there appeared in Pans a number of newspapers oi the most extieme views. These papers reached the Eussian' troops in France, and lucre began a frantic Maximalist propaganda, bo it was not surprising' that serious agitation sprang up among the troops, whicn vented itself in unpleasant hostility towards their oincers. Finally, a mutiny broke out. Un the order of M. Kerensky, Minister of War, Commissary Eapp proceeded to the Eussiaii troops on May 18th. He reviewed the different units, and made some changes in their organisation. But the ferment continued, none the less. It was conducted by the ‘’Eegimentai Committee No I,” whicn began to publish bulletins of a Leninist character. On June 18th Eussiau troops from different eucamoments assembled at the

„ camp of La Courtine, and here “ there began a series of meetings, 1 in which Regiment No. 1 and its leading lights assumed the principal roles. The “Detachments I Committee,” which had been I formed of the most experienced I soldiers, opposed as much as it could the work of disorganisation upon which Regiment No* 1 had embarked, and set to work to calm the men s minus, and to reinstate a respect for discipline. A meeting of Regiments Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6, however, passed a resolution, deposing the “Detachments Committee,” and at the same time the hirst Brigade refused to go on manoeuvres, explaining that it was useless to go tiirougn exercises when they had decided not to fight any more. 0 ARRIVAL OT GENERAL ZAIVXE VTTCH. Later, the dispute between the Tirst and Second-Brigades threatcued to develop into a bitter conflict. The soldiers of the Second Brigade insisted on being separ- ' ated from the mutineers of the . Tirst Brigade, and threatened to leave the camp if their demands . were not conceded. /That is why General Zankevitch, arriving with , Commissary Rapp, ordered the who obeyed the Proyi- , sional Government to leave the ' La Courtine camp, taking their ( equipment with them. This order was executed on 25th June, and only those soldiers who (

refused to obey the Government remained in the camp. Tbe extremely malevolent attitude of these men to their offences obliged General Zankevitch to remove the officers from the camp, and he left there only a few "men, who were charged to look after the administration* On M. Rapp’s initiative, political envoys visited- jua Gourtine Camp several times, in order to bring the soldiers tq_ a better view of things, but ail ettorts were in vain. Even MM. Roussauof, Goidenberg, Erlich, and Smiruof, the delegates of the Soviet, were, received with hostility. Tinally, General Zankevitch was advised from" Petrograd that it was not intended to bring back to Russia troops stationed in Trance, and that it was urgent that order should he re-established among them, even if it was necessary to have recourse to armed force. He went to La Courtine, and posted up a notice to this effect, enjoining the -troops to put down their arms and to go to Clairvaux. This order was obeyed by only 25UU men, who loft La Courtine. The others, 8,600 in number, refused to obey. Then further measures were resorted to. in order to bring the mutineers to their senses. Their rations were reduced to a suitable' 1 ' allowance. Their pay was suppressed. Trench sentries barred i the roads leading* to the neighbouring town. Such measures dismayed the rebels, hut at the same time they only increased the influence of the agitators scattered among them. They assaulted the Trench soldiers. They kept under arrest for six hours a Trench officer and two non-commissioned i officers, who had been ordered by

the Drench authorities to post up a telegram from the Generalissimo in the®camp. TINAL APPEAL IN .VAIN. On 19th August General Zankevitch made a final appeal to them to put down their arms, hut in vain. On Ist September their provi-

sions were stopped, but they bad taken care to prepare a big- reserve fcr this contingency. Tbe next day Russian artillery took up allotted positions, and an ultimatum was delivered to tbe Camp Committee under a threat to open fire on the camp is they did not r lay down their arms before 10 a.m. i on 3rd September. No notice lyas - taken of the order, and in due j course the artillery opened fire. 5 The rebels were warned that the j '‘fire would be intensified* if they i continued to resist. In the night - ItiU men gave themselves up. On r the 4th September, after about 30 l shells had been dropped on the camp, the rebels waved white I flags and came out, throwing - down their arms. By the evening - 8,300 had given in. They were , taken in charge by Trench troops* t‘ On sth September an intense l artillery fire was opened on the , camp. The mutineers, —of whom . 150 still remained —replied with a • violent machine-gun fire, but by l 6th September the whole camp • was occupied. The Rusian losses > were 8 killed and 44 wounded. Tne Trench casualties were 1 killed and 1 wounded. Of the Russian loyal troops, 1 was killed i and 5 .wounded. In the course of'disarming the ! rebels 81 arrests were made. Then ; the rest were formed up in bati talions, two of which composed of i the agitated elements, were sent to Bourc*, the other to the Isle of i Aix. me others~~wr!T remain at i La Courtine until the end of the , inquiry ordered by the Provisional i Government.