Czech Legion In The News

A recent article in the Hampshire Chronicle highlights the story of a battalion of the Czech Legion that was formed in Russia early in World War I and fought against the Austro-Hungarian Army as part of their claim for independence of their homelands. After the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, this battalion was separated from the remainder of the Legion and was evacuated by the Royal Navy from Archangel to Newcastle. From there, it travelled south and eventually found itself in Winchester via the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway.

While this battalion prepared to fight for the Allies on the Western Front, its sister battalions attached themselves to Admiral Kolchak’s White Army under command of the talented General Gajida. The Czechs hated the Bolsheviks and supported the Social Revolutionaries. They were supported in this position by the US Commander, General Graves, but not by the British commander, Sir Alfred Knox, who was a committed monarchist. When the White Government in Omsk collapsed, they played a pivotal role in the execution of Admiral Kolchak. After handing over the Imperial Treasury to the Red Army in 1920, they sailed from Vladivostok to France and returned home, where many of them joined the army of newly created Czechoslovakia.

The role of the gallant Czech Legion in the Russian Civil War is revealed in Part One of Churchill’s Abandoned Prisoners. It is ironic that the Czech Republic, as part of NATO, is now involved in the war in Ukraine just over 100 years on. There will be more on this in my talk to the Wherwell History Group later this week.