File No. 861.00/1382
The Chargé in China (Spencer) to the Secretary of State
[Telegram]
Peking, March 29,
1918, 5 p.m.
[Received March 29, 11.55 a.m.]
[Received March 29, 11.55 a.m.]
The French Consul General at Irkutsk announces under yesterday’s date the active cooperation of a thousand Austrian prisoners with [Page 93] the Bolsheviks. They are supplied with machine guns, well armed, wear Russian uniforms and arrived yesterday from Omsk. They announce their intention of taking part against Semenov and eventually against any Allied expedition. Other Austrian prisoners have elsewhere joined the Red Guard.
Spencer