Czech Legion Pin

  Czechoslovak Army Legion Participant in Russian Civil War commemorative badge. 1930's edition. A soldier dressed in a WWI-period Russian Army Uniform on the badge. Measures approximatey 3 x 2 cm.
  Historical Background: After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Bolshevik government concluded the separate Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, and it was agreed between the Bolsheviks and the corps to evacuate the Czechs and Slovaks to France to join the Czechoslovak corps and continue fighting there. Because the European front was blocked by German and Austrian armies, the evacuation was to be done via a detour thru Siberia, to the Pacific port of Vladivostok, and the USA. The slow evacuation by the Trans-Siberian railway was exacerbated by transportation shortages – as agreed to by the Brest-Litovsk treaty, the Bolsheviks were at the same time returning German, Austrian and Hungarian POWs from Siberia back home. In May 1918 the Czechs and Slovaks stopped a Hungarian train at Chelyabinsk and shot a soldier who had apparently thrown something at their train. The local Bolshevik government arrested the Czech and Slovak culprits and to free them their comrades had to storm the railway station and subsequently occupied the whole city. Some time later Leon Trotsky, the then People's Commissar of War, ordered the disarming of the Legion. As a result, the Legion took over a considerable area around the railway just east of Volga River, in the process capturing eight train cars of gold bullion from the Imperial reserve in Kazan. After that, the Bolsheviks had to negotiate a new deal in 1920 – gold for a free passage home. Eventually, most of the Legion was evacuated via Vladivostok, but some joined the anti-Bolshevik army of Admiral Kolchak.