Maid of Baikal: A Novel of the Russian Civil War

“Not right away, I expect, though there will be calls for it,” Barrows replied, appearing to sense Ned’s unease. “But that brings us back to the events at Omsk. When you left Vladivostok, the Provisional All-Russian Government still clung to power at Omsk. As everyone knew at the time, that government was an unstable coalition of right-wing Siberian militarists and monarchists and liberal-left politicians from the Volga and the Urals who fled Moscow when the Bolsheviks dissolved the Constituent Assembly in January.”

“Yes, and the two fought like cats and dogs, I’m told,” Ned interrupted, his frustration at dealing with the Russians spilling out despite his best intentions. “Even though their armies had been fighting the Reds along the same front since May.”

“That’s largely true,” Barrows noted. “Back then, the problem was that Omsk lacked a strong unified command. Now, with Admiral Kolchak elevated to Supreme Ruler, unity has been achieved. But, as a result, the Siberian militarists who put him in power now hold all the cards.”

“That’s the part I just don’t understand,” Ned exclaimed, edging forward in the settee. “Are the Allied leaders so keen on a unified command that they don’t care about the regime’s lack of legitimacy? How can Kolchak win unless the population stands behind him? We learned that lesson in the Philippines a long time ago.”

“Actually, our leaders took that into account, but events somehow got ahead of them,” Barrows went on, rising languidly from his chair to take up a new perch on the edge of his writing table, pipe in hand. “You see, when the Omsk coup came about, the British government had just completed a draft resolution recognizing the Provisional All-Russian Government as the sole legitimate authority in Russia. As you might expect, Lloyd George was furious over Kolchak’s move. President Wilson reacted the same way. He has always considered the Admiral anti-democratic and harbors a visceral dislike for the man.”

Ned’s eyes widened. No wonder Lieutenant Colonel Neilson had shown such a conflicted attitude toward Kolchak and the government he had overthrown.

“But at the same time,” Barrows continued, “our State and War Departments clamored hard for a strong military leader to restore order in Omsk: someone they could do business with. So, once the Admiral became military dictator, both London and Washington were forced to concede that Kolchak represented our last and best hope to beat the Bolsheviks.”

“Our best hope?” Ned observed. “Do you mean to say that this is the Allies’ war now? I realize that the British are all in for Kolchak, but where does that leave us? Doesn’t the President’s aide-memoire limit the AEF to a noncombatant role?”

For the second time during his conversation with Barrows, Ned felt as if the earth had shifted beneath his feet. Now that the AEF’s original rationale for being in Russia was no longer valid, would Washington throw in its hand or would it draw new cards and go for broke?

“Ah, there’s the rub,” Barrows answered, taking a pull from his pipe and pointing its stem at Ned’s chest for emphasis. “The President hasn’t revised a word of his July 17 aide-memoire. But in light of changed circumstances, our State and War Departments are now authorized to offer the Whites as much material and financial aid as they can handle—so long as it’s done covertly. So, even though the AEF’s overt role will remain much the same as before, my role and yours will shift ninety degrees. Instead of simply gathering intelligence, we will help Admiral Kolchak to win the war against Bolshevism. In secret, of course.”

Ned let out an involuntary laugh and felt a sudden thrill that nearly overcame his natural sense of alarm. After all, he had joined the army for adventure, and now he would have it in spades. And then he remembered his conversation with Zhanna Dorokhina two days earlier, and her request for an escort to Omsk. Did Barrows’s news mean that he was now free to take any action he saw fit to advance the Siberian cause? It was an absurd notion, of course, and he would probably never see Zhanna again, but if he did, it seemed that one barrier to helping the girl had just been removed.

“I’m happy to follow any orders you give me, colonel,” he offered with a boyish grin, “but, in all frankness, how much of a difference can a few American intelligence officers make on a front that stretches for five hundred miles?”

“More than you might imagine, captain,” Barrows replied with a knowing smile. “Remember this: the U.S. Army is sitting on vast stores of military equipment in Vladivostok that were intended for the Imperial Russian Army before Lenin pulled Russia out of the Great War. Among other things, you and I will help get those munitions through to Kolchak’s armies. And, perhaps just as importantly, we will open a conduit of strategic and tactical intelligence to Kolchak’s Stavka from Allied sources inside and out of Russia.”