The source from which the Czecho-Slovak forces were drawn was almost entirely the body of deserters from the Austro-German armies. Very few comparatively were of other nationality than Czecho-Slovak, or from any other source. While the source of recruits for the Czecho-Slovaks was of one nationality, the sources of the Bolshevik armies were more numerous. While the motives for joining the Red Army were in nearly all cases complex, those which caused allegiance to the Czecho-Slovaks were simple, and among them we may name intense anti-German feeling, promises (and pay) from the French, and—of less weight—an element of adventure which at any time and at any place may cause young men in a foreign country, without dependents, to approximate to the position of being soldiers of fortune.
Discipline and Fighting Ability.
The Bolshevik recruits were familiar with the village form of government. It was therefore natural that they should introduce into their army the same type of administration and discipline which obtains in the mir, or village council. In our sense of the word, discipline was lax, but the spirit of brotherhood was strong, and the men were accustomed to acting upon the compelling force, not of orders from a superior officer, but of the will of the meeting. Putting this into other words, the men obeyed a committee of the regiment or platoon, which was elected by themselves and which took its authority solely from the will of the regiment or platoon expressed in mass meetings. The nature of the Czecho-Slovak discipline is determined by its origin—severe German army training, officered by men who had learnt their method in Germany and received encouragement under the old régime of the Tsar.
The type of fighting natural to each follows from the character of the discipline on the two sides. The Bolsheviks were good at guerilla warfare. The excitement and comradeship of fighting in small machine-gun squads and in daring exploits on the part of small platoons seriously limited the character of the campaigns of which, they were capable. Their General Staff work and their artillery were praised by all observers, and in these branches of the service they received much assistance from the anti-German pro-internationalist Austrian and German prisoners of war who
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