View of Moscow, the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral along the Moskva River. The message on the reverse was dated from Moscow May 29, 1914 (new style); multiple postmarks May 17 (old style; May 30 new style) and May 21 (old style; June 3 new style).
Москва-Кремль Moscou-KremlinVue généraleReverse:Message dated from Moscow May 29, 1914 (new style); multiple postmarks May 17 (old style; May 30 new style) and May 21 (old style; June 3 new style)
"Early in the morning of the 28th cadets seized all the key communication points and demanded that the troops in the Kremlin surrender or face an artillery bombardment. The Kremlin garrison capitulated, only to be machine-gunned by the score when the cadets thought they were being fired on. This was the first great atrocity presaging the coming terror by Whites and Reds alike.Bitter fighting ensued for the rest of the day and during the 29th, and the superior numbers and artillery of the pro-soviet regiments and Red Guards began to be felt."
Forces supporting the Bolshevik Revolution did not immediately secure Moscow, Russia's second city, but were opposed by a conservative Committee of Public Safety that included the officer cadets who took the Kremlin and slayed some of its defenders on October 28 (November 11 New Style). Support for the Bolsheviks was strong in the army and its many soviets. The Red Guards was the military wing of the Bolsheviks initially apart from the army, though many of its members were former soldiers.
Red October: the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 by Robert V. Daniels, page 207, copyright © 1967 Robert V. Daniels, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1967
1917-11-11, 1917, November, Moscow, Kremlin
