Zaamurets

 

On July 6, 1918 the Czechoslovak Legion declared Vladivostok, Russia's port on the Pacific Ocean, an Allied Protectorate.  What was a Czechoslovak Legion doing there in the first place?

It's tied up with the story of an armored train, Zaamurets, pictured above in Vladivostok with soldiers of the Czech Legion.  That story is part of the tale told in "A Remarkable Armored Train Fought Its Way Across Eurasia" by David Axe.

Zaamurets was built during 1916 in Odessa, as one of 75 armored platforms constructed by Russian railyards during the First World War.  According to Axe:

Zaamurets was the king of the mechanical beasts. It had two fully-traversible 57-millimeter Nordenfelt gun turrets—and eight machine guns for close-in protection.

Three to four inches of armor protected the vessel’s carriage and crew from incoming fire. Underneath the armor, two Italian Fiat 60 horsepower petrol motors could push the railcar to a top speed of 28 miles per hour.

In September 1917, Zaamurets returned to Odessa for a refit. Workers mounted square fire-control pillars to both turrets, and raised the turrets for better clearance when firing.

Before the second revolution of 1917, in which the Bolsheviks overthrew the first democratic government in Russian history, the Zaamurets served on the Galician Front supporting the Russian army against the forces of Austria-Hungary.

After the Bolsheviks seized power they also seized Zaamurets and used the train in support of efforts to gain control over Ukraine amidst Germany's efforts to assert control of the region and with a local independence movement also in the mix. 

At the start of WW1, the lands of the Czechs and Slovaks were part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, but there were strong movements for more autonomy and even independence in both areas.  Within Russia, Czech and Slovak emigres were allowed to form their own military unit to support Russia and, after the February 1917 revolution, this unit was allowed to recruit from Czech and Slovak POWs held in Russian camps.  By the end of 1917 the Czech Legion was 50,000 strong.

As the new Soviet leaders and Germany neared completion of peace negotiations in February 1918, the Czech Legion was given permission by the Bolsheviks to leave and go to France where they could fight the Central Powers on the Western Front.  The route chosen for the evacuation was the 6,000 mile Trans-Siberian railroad, bringing the Legion to Vladivostok from where they could take ship to France.

To learn how it all went wrong, and how the Czech Legion became involved in the Russian Civil War, seizing most of Siberia and Russia's gold reserve, and how the Zaamurets ended up in Manchuria as a Japanese operated train, read Axe's article.