Maid of Baikal: A Novel of the Russian Civil War

“One tries to see the best in every man, of course, but the Chief of Staff is enough to try anyone’s patience,” Ward replied, pushing his chair back from the desk impatiently. “Often I have had a mind to kick him in the place where it would do the most good.”

“I fully concur in that,” Ned replied, resisting a laugh. “But perhaps you have overlooked one factor in our favor. The Maid, I can assure you, is no less frustrated with Lebedev than we are. And if she decides he must go, I would not underestimate her ability to make it happen—somehow.”

“The Maid is in Omsk, then?” Ward exclaimed, rising to his feet.

“And likely on her way to the Stavka to corner Lebedev in his den, if not to Liberty House to have him dismissed.”

“Then let’s finish our preparations and ride to the Admiral’s offices early,” Ward replied, turning to stand at the window and gaze onto the busy street below. “Perhaps we can intercept her and glean her intentions. Or else be on hand to watch the fireworks.”

* * *

Unlike previous meetings at Liberty House, when Ned had been asked to wait in the reception room for an hour or more, the duty officer met him and Colonel Ward in the lobby and ushered them directly into Admiral Kolchak’s suite. Ned looked at his watch. They were twenty minutes early for Ward’s appointment. Was something afoot?

Kolchak and Dieterichs met their two visitors at the door and bade them take seats at the conference table. In the two months since Ned had last seen the Supreme Leader, he appeared to have lost some of his energy and resoluteness. Though his deep-set eyes still held a piercing quality, their light had dimmed. Dieterichs, in contrast, seemed to have grown in stature and looked as dashing as ever in his smartly tailored British uniform.

The subject of the meeting was Allied military aid, and Ward began with a summary of the military situation along the Urals, as seen from the British perspective. He focused on the importance of taking a defensive posture over the summer, in order to build reserves and retake the initiative in the autumn. With the Siberians holding nearly the entire expanse between the Urals and the Volga, the Red Army was in no position to make another run against Ufa. Instead, the latest intelligence indicated that Lenin and Trotsky thought the Red Army would face its next major challenge on the Lower Volga, at Tsaritsyn, against the combined forces of the Siberian Southern Army and Denikin’s AFSR. If the Whites could prevail there in late summer or autumn, Ward argued, they might yet mount a coordinated drive on Moscow before winter.

Despite the logic of Ward’s case, Ned noted impatience in the narrowing of General Dieterichs’ eyes and in the hard line of his tightly pressed lips. Suddenly, the general held up his hands to interrupt Ward at the very moment that the colonel struck his most optimistic note.

“You paint a bright picture, Colonel Ward,” Dieterichs remarked with a smile that his eyes did not share. “But, as you have pointed out, our Siberian armies are exhausted and need time to rebuild. What will the Allies do to help us?”

“Last month you received renewed assurances from London and Washington,” Ward replied. “Not only regarding military aid, but also for a ten million pound loan from our leading London banks. Since then, the Allied Council of Five has taken proper note of your most recent victories. Diplomatic recognition by all five Great Powers may not lie far off, provided that certain conditions are met.”

“And among those conditions is a unified military command?”

“We urge you to consider it,” Ward answered. “It would avoid the unseemly, and perhaps dangerous, prospect of a race to Moscow between your forces and those of General Denikin.”

“I see. And your other conditions?”

“Now would be the ideal time to institute some of the military reforms we have discussed. For example, at a time when field units are desperately short of officers, we would like to see the Siberian Army scale down its staffs, combine understrength units, and send redundant officers to the front. Reforms are also necessary to boost conscription, particularly among veterans of the German war. And service exemptions rooted in bribery and corruption must be stopped, with shirkers to be conscripted or sentenced to hard labor. The British Military Mission remains more than willing to assist in implementing any and all of these reforms.”

Kolchak’s face remained unmoved and Ned could not determine whether the Supreme Ruler was still pondering Ward’s proposals, had rejected them outright, or was considering what to eat for dinner.

Dieterichs balled his hands into fists and laid them on the table.

“And do you intend next to take up residence at the Stavka?” the general asked in a biting tone.

Ward stiffened but made no immediate reply. In the next moment, a clatter was heard at the door.

Moments later, the door opened and the Maid of Baikal marched through, with the duty officer trailing two paces behind.