BETRAYAL OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16542, 16 November 1915, Page 8

BETRAYAL OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY.

EXECUTIONS FOR HIGH TREASON. WRECKING OF AN ARSENAL. (From Ode Own Correspondent.) LONDON, September 30. Sensational disclosures have just been made which account in part for the "forced retreat of the Russian army. Russia, it seems, is honeycombed' with pro-German intrigues and espionage, and a huge conspiracy has been discovered. The chief agent was Lieut.-colonel Ivanoff Miassaiedoff, who for a long time held a high position in the gendarmerie. The officers of the gendarmerie are recruited 1 from among the cleverest officers of'the army, and Miassaiedoff was a man of quite exceptional brilliancy. He spoke English,- French, and German, as if they were his native languages; he knew everybody, and' mixed in the highest society, to which his elegance of manner and talents reoommended him. Up till the outbreak of war it had been his special duty to watch over the personal safety of the Czar. He then asked to be attached ; to' 'the general military headquarters, urging that a constant surveillance was necessary for the protection of the Grand Duke Nicholas. The CJzar granted _ the request, and transferred this high police official, ordinarily attached to his own person, to the Commander-in-Chief. The Petit Journal, of Paris, tells a dramatic story of''how the treason was dis-' covered. After the fighting in the Yser certain memoranda were found on the body of a Bavarian officer. There were phrases that indicated the presence of a spy in the very heart of the Allied General Staffs, such as "We have been victorious, thanks to 'our wonderful system of information," or "our marvell&us informant has greatly facilitated our task; with him the war becomes a mere game." These notes were sent to French headquarters. General Pau at that timo was just setting out on his visit to Russia. He was to acquaint the Grand Duke with this discovery. THE CONFESSION. "You tell me nothing that I did not know before," said the Russian Commander-in-Chief. "I am fully aware that we were being betrayed ; ■ but by whom? That is what we have to find out." Thereupon a "fake" military order was drawn.up. Care was taken that it should be communicated only to a small grour) of people who were already suspected. The expected result happened. Germany at once showed a knowledge of the order and took military action in consequence.

The spies had fallen into the trap* It onlv remained to put the suspects under rigorous cross-examination. Lieut.-colonel Miassaiedoff was among them. His only thoutrht was for his own skin, and he volunteered .to make certain revelations if his life were spared. Although this promise was not given, he admitted his guilt, and betrayed the names of his accomplices. It is said (though this does not appear in the confession) that Miassaiedoff held back an order that should have reached General Rcnncnkampf, and by so doing saved the German armies from what seemed' like in evitable disaster. Some years ago, rumours began to circulate about this arch-spy, and the Novoe Vremya oponly- accused him of betraying the country and selling secret documents i to a foreign Power. Miassaiedoff called out M. Boris Suvorin* the jour-, nalist who had accused him, afid wounded him serio' slv in a duel, and the affair was damped down. The brothers Freiberg and the brothers Salzmann, who were banged with Miassaiedoff. were occupied in the emigration traffic to Germany and America. Some time ago their behaviour brought them under the suspicion of the police, but Miassaiedoff exerted his influence and saved them from nroscoution. Baron Grothus and von Freinat were high officials in the notorious Political Police. G. Grothus was a friend of General Hartwisr, one of the famous a.gentsprovocateurs, like AzefF. Some years ago Grothus had the dutv of investigating the revolutionary movement in the Baltic provinces.

CAUSE OF THE RETREAT. The current issue of "The Great War", gives an astonishing acoount of the wrecking of the Czar's chief arsenal. The writer says: —"At the time of the Russian retreat from the Dunajec to the Carpathian line, it was not advisable to state the chief reason of trie disaster to our Allies. _ Russia had put most of her eggs in a single basket. More than half her fighting armies throughout the campaign had been supplied* wrth smokeless powder and high-explosive' shells from one great munition factory, at Ochta, which _is nearer to Petrograd than Woolwich is to London. - Among the leading workers were men of German stock and brilliant talent, drawn from the German population of the Western Russian provinces. German secret service agents appear to hare won over some of these men, and the result was that at this critical hour in the history of Russia all the works at Ochta were blown up by a series-of tremendous explosions in the nitrating tanks, detonating the materials used for shellfiliing. Petrograd shook as in an earthquake. Thousands of the trained workmen were killed, and nearly all the munition plant was destroyed Russia was quite crippled. Most of her guns were jSut out of action, becaiuse they lacked both shells and charges, and evon the supply of smokeless powder for the infantry seems to have run perilously short. siege guns were being produced at the Pntilof works, capable of coping with the largest pieces of ordnance made by Skoda and Krupp; but after the destruction of Ochta there was so extreme a dearth of ammunition that nothing could- be dono against the heavy art.illerv used by General von Mackenscn."