One of the arguments made by those who claim that the Western Allies did not do enough to help the Whites during the Russian Civil War is that Russian prisoners of war held by the Germans should after the Armistice have been repatriated to areas under White control. Ilya Somin makes this argument in his *Stillborn Crusade*, p. 53 https://books.google.com/books?id=X7ZHIVhazHUC&pg=PA53 quoting Churchill to the effect that 'Whereas we could have made out of these an army of loyal men who would have been available to sustain the defence of Archangel and Murmansk or to aid General Denikin and Kolchak, we are now I presume simply sending a reinforcement of 500,000 trained men to join the armies of Lenin and Trotsky. This appears to me to be one of the capital blunders in the history of the world.'"
Richard Pipes, while not as optmistic about the Whites' chances as Somin, writes in *Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime* "The Allies had in Germany several million Russian prisoners of war whom they could have sent to Denikin, Iudenich, and Kolchak. In fact, they left their fate in the hands of the Germans, who exchanged them for their own war prisoners in Russia. A few took part in anti-Red operations in the Baltic; more sought refuge in Western Europe; but the majority were repatriated." https://books.google.com/books?id=pfNEY931UzYC&pg=PA71
For a contrary view, see Carl J. Richard, *When the United States Invaded Russia: Woodrow Wilson's Siberian Disaster,* p. 109:
"Foch also proposed repatriating the 1.2 million Russian prisoners of war in Germany to Denikin's territory. Foch oddly assumed that Russian soldiers who had surrendered to the Germans would wish to fight for the Whites rather than make trouble for them, forgetting that one of the principal causes of the Bolshevik Revolution was large-scale desertion and mutiny by common soldiers, many of whom had then joined the revolutionaries.." https://books.google.com/books?id=Hsxca9P8D6IC&pg=PA109
Any thoughts? BTW, the actual policy followed by the Allies was typical of their vacillation on the Russian question. In January when Foch put forth his proposal to repatriate the prisoners to White territory, the Allies rejected it but "instead...decreed that these unfortunate souls, homesick, destitute, and of questionable military value, should not be repatriated at all, in order to prevent their falling into the hands of the Bolsheviks." John M. Thompson, *Russia, Bolshevism, and the Versailles Peace,* https://books.google.com/books?id=ukfWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA328 It was only some months later, probably too late to change the outcome of the Civil War, that they decided to let the Germans themselves decide on repatriation...
Richard Pipes, while not as optmistic about the Whites' chances as Somin, writes in *Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime* "The Allies had in Germany several million Russian prisoners of war whom they could have sent to Denikin, Iudenich, and Kolchak. In fact, they left their fate in the hands of the Germans, who exchanged them for their own war prisoners in Russia. A few took part in anti-Red operations in the Baltic; more sought refuge in Western Europe; but the majority were repatriated." https://books.google.com/books?id=pfNEY931UzYC&pg=PA71
For a contrary view, see Carl J. Richard, *When the United States Invaded Russia: Woodrow Wilson's Siberian Disaster,* p. 109:
"Foch also proposed repatriating the 1.2 million Russian prisoners of war in Germany to Denikin's territory. Foch oddly assumed that Russian soldiers who had surrendered to the Germans would wish to fight for the Whites rather than make trouble for them, forgetting that one of the principal causes of the Bolshevik Revolution was large-scale desertion and mutiny by common soldiers, many of whom had then joined the revolutionaries.." https://books.google.com/books?id=Hsxca9P8D6IC&pg=PA109
Any thoughts? BTW, the actual policy followed by the Allies was typical of their vacillation on the Russian question. In January when Foch put forth his proposal to repatriate the prisoners to White territory, the Allies rejected it but "instead...decreed that these unfortunate souls, homesick, destitute, and of questionable military value, should not be repatriated at all, in order to prevent their falling into the hands of the Bolsheviks." John M. Thompson, *Russia, Bolshevism, and the Versailles Peace,* https://books.google.com/books?id=ukfWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA328 It was only some months later, probably too late to change the outcome of the Civil War, that they decided to let the Germans themselves decide on repatriation...
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