Note 71 — Chapter XXI · EKATERINBURG THE MURDER OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY DURING THE NIGHT OF JULY 16-17th, 1918

In May, 1918, the Czecho-Slovakian troops (consisting of volunteers, former prisoners of war), who had by then been developed by Kerensky into two strong divisions, were strung along the Trans-Siberian railway between Samara and Vladivostok; preparations were being made to pass them into France. The German G.H.Q., in an attempt to prevent these troops from rejoining the allied forces in Europe, ordered the Bolsheviks to disarm them. Following on an ultimatum that was rejected by the Czechs, fighting broke out between them and the Bolshevik troops under German officers. The Russian volunteer formations lost no time in joining up with the Czecho-Slovakian troops. Such was the origin of the movement which began at Omsk and soon spread over the whole of Siberia.