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Maurice Janin

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Maurice Janin
Military postcard of the Czechoslovak Legion with Maurice Janin
Birth namePierre Thiébaut Charles Maurice Janin
Nickname(s)The general without honour
Born(1862-10-19)19 October 1862
7th arrondissement of Paris, France
Died28 April 1946(1946-04-28) (aged 83)
Saint-Sébastien, Isère, France
Allegiance France
Service / branch French Army
RankDivisional general
Battles / warsFirst World War
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
AwardsOrder of Lāčplēsis, 2nd class
Alma materÉcole spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr

Pierre-Thiébaut-Charles-Maurice Janin (19 October 1862 – 28 April 1946) was a French general (from April 20, 1916) and military commander who was the chief of the Allied military mission in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. He is known for his betrayal of the Russian Supreme Leader Alexander Kolchak by giving him to the Soviet revolutionary committee to be executed in Irkutsk.

Biography

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Pierre Thiébaut Charles Maurice Janin was born in Paris on the 19 October 1862.[1] studied at Special Military School at Saint-Cyr, which he graduated in 1882.

In 1912, He briefly worked as an instructor at the Saint Petersburg military academy. He then served in the 31st and 123rd Infantry Regiments before and during the first world war. He fought in the Battle of the Yser in 1914 and was victorious. Shortly after the battle he was made deputy chief of staff at the French army headquarters.[2]

In April 1916, the French president Poincáre sent him to Russia as the commander of the French military mission. The aims of the mission were to help Romania join the war on the Entente's side and to improve the tactical training of the Russian army. Janin met Tsar Nicholas II and found him to not know much about the state of his own army saying that "He was very poorly informed about current events. He had no opportunity to form his own judgment of the facts. He did not read newspapers, but only excerpts from newspapers. We can compare it to how daily light penetrates a dark cellar through a small window."

In March 1917, a revolution broke out in Russia, the Tsar abdicated and the monarchy was abolished. The Russian Republic was established and the government decided to continue to fight in the war on the Entente's side. On 7 November, communists under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin began occupying government buildings and on the 8th they took the Winter Palace (the seat of the government). Janin left Russia the same day.[3]

At the beginning of 1918, Janin was made the minister of war for the Czechoslovak national council (based in Paris).[4]

In July of 1918, he was appointed chief of the Allied military mission in Siberia during the Russian Civil War and as such, he commanded the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia.[5] He took charge and met with the Supreme leader of Russia and commander of the White Army (Alexander Kolchak) the man he was supposed to aid. In 1919, the Red Army began to push the white army into retreat. Janin betrayed and detained Supreme Leader Kolchak after Kolchak refused to give him and the Czechoslovak legion control of the main gold reserve of the army. Janin then handed Kolchak over to local Socialist-Revolutionaries in January 1920 along with a disputed number of wagons of gold to ensure their safety. Janin said that "Psychologically, we cannot accept responsibility for the safety of the admiral's journey... After I suggested that he transfer the gold reserve under my personal responsibility and he refused to trust me, I can no longer do anything".[6] In February 1920, the Bolsheviks executed Kolchak in Irkutsk.[7][8][9][10]

Maurice Janin with his staff in Siberia (taken between 1918 and 1920).

Janin returned home to France shortly after this and defended the accusations that he had personally betrayed Kolchak and the anti-Bolshevik movement by saying that it was "fairy tales" and that people couldn't "imagine the real state of affairs in its true light". He died on 28 April 1946 in France.[11]

Awards

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Janin was a recipient of the Latvian military Order of Lāčplēsis, 2nd class.[1] He was also awarded the Czechoslovak Military variant of Order of the White Lion in 1923.

Legacy

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Among the White Russian émigrés he became widely known as the "General without honour".[12]

In fiction

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In the 2008 Russian biopic The Admiral, Janin is played by Richard Bohringer.

References

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  1. ^ a b Priedītis, Ērichs Ēriks (1996). Latvijas Valsts apbalvojumi un Lāčplēši (in Latvian). Riga: Junda. ISBN 9984-01-020-1. OCLC 38884671.
  2. ^ Tucker, Spencer C. (2014-10-28). World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [5 volumes]: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-965-8.
  3. ^ Holečková, Monika (2021-01-19). "General Maurice Janin - saved the legionnaires in Siberia, but died in oblivion - part one". Pandorina skrinka (in Slovak). Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  4. ^ "Czechoslovak Legions (1914-1919) | EHNE". ehne.fr. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  5. ^ PRECLÍK, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 str., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karviná) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019, ISBN 978-80-87173-47-3, pp. 8 - 52, 57 - 120, 124 - 128, 140 - 148, 184 - 199
  6. ^ "Cлова Александра Колчака, задержанного чехами на транссибирской станции Нижнеудинск, стали пророческими". Родина (in Russian). 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  7. ^ N. G. O. Pereira, "White Power during the Civil War in Siberia (1918–1920): Dilemmas of Kolchak's "War Anti-Communism," in: Canadian Slavonic Papers (1987) 29#1 pp 45–62.
  8. ^ Хандорин, В. Г. Мифы и факты о Верховном правителе России. — М.: Общество развития русского исторического просвещения «Двуглавый орёл»; Издательство М. Б. Смолина (ФИВ), 2019. — 200 с. — ISBN 978-5-91862-057-1., p.235
  9. ^ Мельгунов С. П. Трагедия адмирала Колчака: В 2 книгах. — Книга вторая: Часть III. — М.: Айрис-пресс, Лагуна-Арт, 2005. — 496 с. + вклейка 8 с. — (Белая Россия). — ISBN 5-8112-0547-3. — С. 443, 461.
  10. ^ Флеминг, Питер Судьба адмирала Колчака. 1917—1920 / Пер. с англ. Л.А. Игоревского. — М.: ЗАО Центрполиграф, 2006.— 252 с. — (Россия в переломный момент истории). ISBN 5-9524-2530-5, С. 235
  11. ^ Egorov, Boris (2021-08-16). "How a French general betrayed the Supreme Ruler of Russia". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  12. ^ Egorov, Boris (2021-08-16). "How a French general betrayed the Supreme Ruler of Russia". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
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