me,
first with rage at the crime itself, and secondly at his impotence in
being unable to prevent it. But Omsk went on the even tenor of its way:
it is remarkable what horrors people can face without a tremor when they
get used to them, as they must in revolutions.

CHAPTER XII

THE CAPTURE OF PERM: THE CZECHS RETIRE FROM THE FIGHTING

The _coup d'etat_ had thrown the proposed Perm offensive completely into
the background. The Czechs, under the influence of their Political
Council, who had joined the Social Revolutionary Committee, and their
leader Chernoff, retired to the rear. Each unit elected a committee and
established a Soldiers' Council on the strictest Bolshevik plan, and
ceased to be of further use either to the Russians or their own cause.
The officers of the new Russian army became greatly concerned for the
integrity of their own young troops with such a shocking example of lack
of discipline before their eyes, and begged Admiral Koltchak to order
these hostile political bodies out of Ekaterinburg. The admiral offered
them a town in the rear where they might discuss politics to their
hearts' content, without danger to his army. This, however, did not suit
their plans, for their obvious object was to destroy the integrity of
the new Russian army. Admiral Koltchak in desperation ordered the
leaders to be arrested and the conspiracy to be broken up. General
Gaida, though a Czech officer, put the admiral's order into effect, and
handed the prisoners over to the Commander-in-Chief, General Surovey, at
Chilliyabinsk. General Surovey, under pressure of the Czech Council and
Chernoff's Committee, released the prisoners, and began to hunt the
famous young General Gaida out of their hitherto equally famous army. To
save himself from disgrace at the hands of his political enemies, the
general resigned his commission in the Czech Army, and by joining the
Russian Army was instantly re-established in his position as Commander
of the Russian armies on the right. Thus fell the glorious Czech legions
from their high pinnacle of fame, killed as all armies must be the
moment they join in party strife.

From the point of view of purely Russian tactics, it was necessary to
strike south from Ufa, with the object of effecting a junction with the
Orenburg Cossacks under General Dutoff, and if possible linking up with
the forces of General Denikin in South Russia. But no exact or reliable
information could be secured as t