Chapter 65 Lenin Will Need Us

"Hello, I am Lieutenant Colonel Harold Alexander of the Allied Delegation to Poland."

In the meeting room of the Tombea Palace, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander, who looked quite gentlemanly, greeted Hersman in German in a very gentle tone. He also took the initiative to shake hands with Hersman, appearing very friendly.

Hersman said in fluent English: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig von Hersman, a representative of the German People's Committee."

"People's Committee?" Lieutenant Colonel Alexander raised his eyebrows, "I think this is a temporary government representing Germany?"

"Government representing Germany?" Hersman shook his head and looked at Lieutenant Colonel Alexander, "There is no such government, there will be no such government after November 9!"

"There will be, I know you are going to hold the National Assembly election on January 19." Lieutenant Colonel Alexander said, "Then there will be a government that can truly represent Germany."

"This reminds me of the Russian Constituent Assembly election!" Hersman said gloomily.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander frowned, this German officer was quite pessimistic about the situation in Germany.

Alexander asked again: "You are soldiers of the country, shouldn't you obey the legitimate government?"

"We are the emperor's army! We swear allegiance to the emperor, not the People's Committee or any other committee!"

Hissman's answer surprised Alexander, "But there is no emperor in Germany now..."

"Yes, there is no emperor!"

"Then who are you loyal to?"

"No one!" Hissman paused, "Or, any possibility exists."

"Any possibility?" Lieutenant Colonel Alexander was stunned. "Could it be that it also includes loyalty to the Bolsheviks?"

"Yes!" Hessmann said, "In fact, I knew Lenin, and I knew him before the October Revolution... If I want to serve him, he will give me a very good treatment."

"What?" Lieutenant Colonel Alexander was stunned again and again, "I don't think you are a Junker officer?"

"In fact, I am a Junker officer. I have been in the Groslichfeld Camp since I was nine years old."

Hessmann sighed softly and said, "But I have to live... I know you will not allow Germany to maintain a strong army after the war. Where can an officer like me go? I can only lead troops to fight, and I have no other skills. So now many people in the German army are looking for a way out. Some retired officers have been hired by Her Majesty the Grand Duchess and found jobs in the Courland Defense Force. Some people retired and went to Hungary..."

"But this is a violation of the Compiègne Forest Armistice Agreement!" Lieutenant Colonel Alexander pointed out in a rather stern tone. "All German soldiers must leave the Baltic... no matter if they are active or in reserve!"

Hersmann said in a sad tone: "But there are many such people, as far as I know, more than 30,000. The backbone of the Kurland Defense Army is the retired German soldiers. They are elites who have participated in many bloody battles and are the best soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel, where can you let them go? They need to eat!"

"They can go anywhere, but they can't violate the agreement!" Lieutenant Colonel Alexander said. "I will inform the Allies about this!"

"They can go anywhere?" Hesmann asked with a sneer, "Like Admiral Brusilov?"

Hearing this name, the faces of Grand Duchess Olga and White Russian Admiral Yudenich who were present changed at the same time. Admiral Brusilov was the Russian general who commanded the Kerensky Offensive. Although the Kerensky Offensive was a great defeat, no one in Russia would doubt Brusilov's military talent. Russia's several commendable victories in the World War were all won under his command.

And now, this outstanding Russian military strategist and nearly 30,000 other former Tsarist Russian officers are fighting for the Bolsheviks! Even Admiral Brusilov, a general of His Majesty the Tsar, can surrender to the Bolsheviks, so why can't the Courland Defense Army?

"I will soon become the Russian Empress. Do I need to look at the British face when hiring someone as a military adviser?" The Grand Duchess, still in military uniform, interrupted the conversation between Hessman and Alexander with a gloomy face. "And the Compiègne Armistice Agreement is useless to the Russian Empire."

"Your Highness," Lieutenant Colonel Alexander reminded. "Your status has not yet been recognized by the Allies..."

"What? What do you mean by recognition by the Allies?" The Grand Duchess' tone was cold, "Isn't our Russian Empire a member of the Allies? You British no longer regard the Russian Empire as a member of the Allies?"

This is indeed a problem! Lieutenant Colonel Alexander thought: If we admit that the Russian Empire is still a member of the Allied Powers, then the peace conference to be held in Paris will have to invite Russian representatives... One more country to share the fruits of victory will not count, the Polish issue, the Balkan issue, and the Turkish issue will all become big troubles - if we admit that the Russian Empire is a victorious country, can Russian Poland still be independent?

Moreover, before the World War, in order to win over Russia, Britain and France made promises to Russia on the Balkan and Constantinople issues! Can they turn their backs on it now? Even if they want to default on their debts, they have to give the Russian Empire some compensation, right? For example, they have to share more compensation...

What worries Britain and France even more is that in order to gain Germany's support for their civil war, the Russian Empire government is likely to adopt a policy of shielding Germany at the peace conference!

"Your Highness, I think you should know the "Fourteen Points of Peace" (now a principle). This is the basis for holding a peace conference." Lieutenant Colonel Alexander could not respond directly and could only talk about him left and right. But as soon as he said this, he knew that he had made a mistake.

Sure enough, the Grand Duchess stood up suddenly and looked at Lieutenant Colonel Alexander with cold eyes: "I have read President Wilson's fourteen fallacies! The sixth one said: Foreign troops withdraw from Russia and ensure that Russia independently determines its Political development and national policy, welcome it to enter the society of a free country under the system of its own choice! Since foreign troops are all withdrawing, when will the British, American, French and Japanese troops withdraw from Russia? "

Foreign troops refer only to Germany! Lieutenant Colonel Alexander wanted to answer this.

"Your Highness, our troops are going to help the legitimate Russian government." Lieutenant Colonel Alexander told lies that he did not even believe.

"Okay then," Admiral Yudenich, who was participating in the meeting, immediately took over the topic, "We have gathered 200,000 people in the Baltics (I am boasting, there are actually not that many), you can send tens of thousands more to carry Come with the artillery troops and provide enough munitions so that we can take back Petrograd next spring!"

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander sighed inwardly. He knew he wouldn't get anything in Tallinn! The Grand Duchess is very angry that Britain, France and the United States are still unwilling to recognize her status, and Yudenich and other White Russians want to recapture Petrograd as soon as possible - if you count the 100,000 German defense troops and the assistance provided by Britain, France and the United States, They probably have such power!

But Britain and France will not support them in doing so... because they cannot recognize Olga as the Empress of Russia before the treaty with Germany is signed, so there will be no strong military assistance.

"Your Highness," Lieutenant Colonel Alexander quickly stood up, "I would like to remind you one last time that the Allies will only consider recognizing your status if the German military personnel in the Baltic are expelled first."

"I don't need your recognition!" Olga said, "After the funeral, I will be crowned Empress of the Russian Empire in the Olevest Cathedral!"

The conversation ended unhappily. This result was something Hersman had not expected - he originally thought that Britain, France and the United States would at least recognize Olga's status. After all, she had the unanimous support of the main Belarusian generals. If there is anyone in Russia who can compete with Lenin, it is her, the legal heir of the Romanov dynasty.

However, Britain, France and the United States were stuck on this most basic issue... and they were still loyal to Olga after Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich, Semyonov and others all pledged their allegiance to Olga. objected to its status.

This is tantamount to telling the whole world that Britain, France, and the United States do not support the restoration of Tsarist Russia!