Time Slip Reiwa Japan

028 - Siberian War of Independence - 1

With the conclusion of the Tokyo Naval Conference, the Soviet Union entered a political season accompanied by the bloody wind of purges. There was no major cause for Stalin's decision to go ahead with the purges. If anything, it was due to Stalin's distrusts of the Soviet Red Army, which had accumulated since the Soviet-Japanese War, and Stalin's dissatisfaction with the non-Stalinist faction of party officials from Lenin's time who were working as if they were interfering with the Five-Year Plan.

At the same time, it was also a clampdown on the Soviet masses. By using the term "non-revolutionary" to seize and purge the Red Army and the Communist Party, he aimed to complete the Stalinist system like steel. The Red Army officers, Communist Party officials, and even ordinary people were punished for being non-revolutionary.

. . .

The Baron Ewald Mutiny

Before the Great Purge began, the merchant raider Baron Ewald had been sent to Vladivostok, but due to the disruption of logistics caused by the Great Purge, the ship was in a state where it could not even provide food for tomorrow. The ship had to survive the voyage from Europe to Asia, but the crew was exhausted and even the maintenance of the hull was lacking.

A political officer, concerned about the decline in morale, suggested changing the ship's name from Baron Ewald to Admiral Ewald to boost morale, and this was done, but due to lack of supplies, even the rewriting of the ship's name on the stern was impossible. The captain and political officers took various measures to overcome this situation. They appealed to the upper echelons of the Red Army and asked the Communist Party for support from Primorsky Krai through the Party.

This angered the upper echelons of the Communist Party, who arrested Admiral Ewald's captain and the political officer attached to the ship for being non-revolutionary. This outrage angered the sailors of Admiral Ewald, who knew that the two men were running around for the ship and the ship's crew. They were so angry that they decided to get them back and fight to the death rather than die of starvation.

The sailors, led by a junior officer, took their weapons and stormed the Communist branch where the two were being held and succeeded in rescuing them. In the face of what could only be described as a mutiny by his men, the captain was determined. He discussed with the political officer to let his men survive, no matter what would happen to him. As a result, Admiral Ewald threatened the Communist Party branch in Vladivostok with 28 cm guns, and as soon as she had taken the fuel, she left the port and headed east.

As soon as she entered Japan's exclusive economic zone, a JMSDF patrol vessel blocked Admiral Ewald. In the sky, patrol planes were flying with bombs in case of emergency, creating a tense situation. On the bow and bridge of Admiral Ewald, the sailors waved the white flag. To survive, they had chosen to defect. The destination was the Republic of Okhotsk, a Russian state in the Japanese Federation.

. . .

Red Army Purge

The Soviet Union was shaken by the fuss over the defection of a large 20.000-ton ship, an unprecedented event in history. It was only natural that Admiral Ewald, the largest combat ship in the Soviet Navy at the moment and a symbol of the Soviet Union, had mutinied and defected. Naturally, Stalin was furious. For Admiral Ewald, the cause was the inaction and sabotage of the Red Army and the Communist Party, so he showed leniency by promoting that they could not be charged with any crime if they returned home immediately and revered them.

However, Stalin pressed hard on the Red Army, the Communist Party, and the leadership in Siberia. In particular, the Soviet Navy was under intense scrutiny for its compromises made at the Tokyo Naval Treaty, *1 and so senior officers at the general level were executed across the board, followed by a purge of senior officers. In this situation, people panicked. The Admiral Ewald incident was a problem caused by the Navy, but the Army had already been the target of a purge, and even the most senior marshal had been punished.

The Red Army was torn between loyalty to the motherland and fear of the purge. But there was one thing that could help them: the Republic of Okhotsk, a nation of Russians, by Russians, for Russians, along with the Soviet Union. Although it belongs to the Japanese Federation, a nation of Japanese sworn enemies who have defeated the Russians twice, the Russians are allowed to maintain their autonomy.

Senior officers of the Red Army of the Soviet Union used various means to bring their families to Siberia and then to the Republic of Okhotsk through Japanese companies (the Japanese government). Stalin was furious at this. He even went so far as to say that people who did not have loyalty to the motherland were not worthy of living, and gave the purge unit the right to immediately shoot any Red Army officer without a special permit who was in Siberia with his family without trial.

. . .

Siberia

Along with Stalin's purge forces, his Red Army troops were also deployed on a large scale in Siberia. Stalin's orders were to seal off the borders and the areas of activity of Japanese and American companies to prevent them from defecting. However, the Siberian economy, which was already exhausted, could not bear this burden.

Rural areas were requisitioned for food, and urban areas were requisitioned for daily necessities. Those who resisted were punished for violating the spirit of the Soviet revolution. Those who rebelled against the purge forces were even shot dead. The Siberians endured this situation. The patience of the Russian people made them accept the situation.

However, this was not the case until one of the farming villages was requisitioned by the purge forces for food, even rice seeds. When the Russians in Siberia realized that they would not be able to survive not only tomorrow, but even today, they were furious. They shouted for revolution. They shouted in anger, "Don't let the tyrant get away with it."

. . .

Siberian War of Independence

At first, they were shouting for revolution, but it was nothing more than a riot. It was the senior officers of the Red Army, who had gone into hiding with their families in various parts of Siberia, who transformed it into a revolution. They were aware that it was impossible for them to cross to the Republic of Okhotsk peacefully. They knew that even being in Siberia would be suicidal. Nevertheless, they were still in Siberia with their families with a ray of hope.

Because they were such senior officers, they could not abandon the Siberian people who stood up to live. One after another, senior officers joined the Siberian revolutionary army. The Red Army, stationed in Siberia, responded to this call.

The Siberian War of Independence began.

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Notes

*1: Stalin dismissed the compromises made at the Tokyo Naval Treaty to conclude the treaty as the Soviet Navy's arbitrary actions, and punished them. This was an act to legally withdraw from the treaty in order to not abide by it even after it was signed. Stalin had not given up on the 50.000-ton battleships, and he looked at Japan and saw that the powers would not complain if they built them. The Soviet Navy concluded the treaty on its own accord, but within the Soviet Union, construction went on as planned. It was to be assumed that it was the Soviet Navy's higher-ups who violated the treaty and that they had been punished.