Maid of Baikal: A Novel of the Russian Civil War

Recognizing the threats that these advances posed to Moscow, and that the Red Army was now fighting on three fronts in the south, Trotsky attempted to strike a deal with the Ukrainian anarchist leader, Nestor Makhno, to lash out at the AFSR’s western flank. But the negotiations failed, and soon thereafter, Trotsky narrowly escaped capture at Tambov from a daring cavalry raid by the Don Army’s General Konstantin Mamontov. The Red leader fled all the way back to Moscow, where he pored over maps day and night for nearly a week before redeploying the Red Army along hastily drawn defensive lines north of the Kharkov-Voronezh railway.

Thus, with Trotsky’s focus far to the west of the Volga, the path now lay clear for the Maid to advance further upriver to Samara, as she had long predicted she would do. For having pledged to take Samara so that a new national assembly there could elect Admiral Kolchak regent of a new Russian government, she was determined to occupy the city by summer’s end.

* * *

Within a week of Trotsky’s redeployment, Colonel Barrows made an unplanned stop in Omsk to coordinate emergency arms deliveries to the White Armies. Since General Knox was not available to represent the British, nor General Graves to represent the Americans, Ward and Barrows were appointed to meet with Kolchak and his military advisors.

Ned met Barrows at the train station on the evening of the colonel’s arrival and arranged to spend the next morning with him assisting with preparations for the session. Ned breakfasted early and made his way to the rail yards, where British guards directed him to a siding that held a private parlor car much like the one in which Barrows had traveled to Irkutsk in January.

Ned found the intelligence chief seated at a cluttered desk at the far end of the car amidst a jumble of papers, his unlit pipe and tobacco pouch within easy reach. Barrows rose to shake Ned’s hand and led him to a pair of leather-covered armchairs facing each other at the car’s center. At first glance, the colonel looked as strong and vigorous as when they had last met, perhaps because his face was ruddy from the sun. But it did not take long for Ned to notice that Barrows had lost weight, his neatly cropped hair had taken on more gray, and fresh creases had appeared in his ruggedly handsome face.

“Can it have been half a year already since we last saw each other?” Barrows began. “As I recall, when you and I met back in Irkutsk, the wireless apparatus hadn’t yet arrived, you hadn’t yet escorted the Maid to Omsk, and we were all questioning how long Admiral Kolchak could last. How much has changed!”

“We’ve made progress, but it hasn’t been a pretty sight,” Ned replied. “Had it not been for British heavy weapons and the Maid’s unexpected successes in the south, the Siberian Army might be in full retreat this side of the Urals.”

“Such extraordinary luck is not something we can count on again,” Barrows agreed. “Which is why we have to keep pushing the Admiral and Dieterichs to be sensible.”

“We can try. But do you really expect them to comply?” Ned pressed.

“Sadly, no,” Barrows said, rising to fetch his pipe and matches from beside his desk. After lighting the pipe, he puffed on it until a cloud of white smoke billowed around his head.

“Why not?” Ned asked at last.

“Because the Admiral’s entire military strategy is based on the one thing he wants from us that Washington refuses to give him,” Barrows answered.

“And what could that possibly be? We’ve already shoveled heaps of money and weapons at him, with more on the way. He can’t expect us to fight his battles for him.” Ned narrowed his eyes while he searched the colonel’s face for an answer.

“No, President Wilson would never stand for that,” Barrows remarked with feigned horror. “He and Kolchak both know very well that the day our American boys start fighting alongside the Siberians, the seventy thousand Japanese troops stationed along the Manchurian border would unleash a world of mischief.”

Barrows fell silent again to draw a few puffs from his pipe.

“Then what is it Kolchak wants from us?”

“Diplomatic recognition. Neither we nor the British nor any other Allied nation has recognized the Kolchak government. And Russia’s neighbors won’t, either, unless the Admiral first guarantees their independence, which he refuses to do.”

“So why haven’t we recognized him, then?” Ned asked. “After giving him so much aid, why not just come out and admit Kolchak’s our man?”

“It’s not as simple as that,” the colonel said, massaging his temples as if his head hurt. “It seems to me that the President’s reluctance to endorse the Supreme Ruler stems from a species of political prejudice. It has nothing to do with public opinion, because the American public generally favors the White Armies.”

“Then what does account for it?”