A unique photo album from a member of the Czech Legion in Siberia. In an almost forgotten chapter of WWI, large numbers of Czechs left their homeland (under Austrian rule) and fought with the Allies in the hopes of winning their freedom in the event of an Allied victory (which they did). Also, large numbers of Czech POWs (still fighting for Austria) captured in Russia also switched sides and fought for the Russians -- until the Russian Revolution, when the Bolsheviks tried to disarm and imprison the Czechs, who were thought to have monarchist leanings.

The Czechs, of course, weren't happy with this, and fought their way free. They captured the entire Trans-Siberian railway and fought all the way across Russia and Siberia, ending up in the port city of Vladivostok on the Pacific rim.

The Allies wanted to make use of them to continue to fight the Communists -- the pre-Cold War had already begun -- but the Allies lost their nerve, and eventually just helped to repatriate the Czechs.

This album has ca 95 pictures and shows numerous scenes of this amazing odyssey, from Lake Baikul to Irkutsk to Vladivostok and the Japanese steamer Shunko Maru, which apparently transported these troops on their way home from Siberia.

There are pictures of wrecked trains, destroyed machinery, nice photos of captured armored railway cars, the troops in winter gear, parading through cities on the way (many rural cities were anti-Communist and helped the Czechs), in small towns, etc. An original, annotated (if you read Czech) not to be duplicated album.

Some of the best pictures are shown below.

Please Click Here to View the Complete Album, presented in order

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Czechoslovakia->Republic I->Legions->Siberia

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