The American cruiser Brooklyn in Vladivostok harbor, Russia in a 1919 Czech Legion photograph. The Legion consisted of Austro-Hungarian Czechs taken prisoner by the Russians, then organized to fight for Czech independence. With peace on the Russian front, they went east to leave Russia from Vladivostok, sometimes fighting their way through the Red Guard defending the Revolution. The Americans, British, and Japanese had forces in the city.

Text, in Czech:

Americký křižník Brooklyn



American cruiser Brooklyn

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During the war, Czech prisoners of war held in Russia formed a Czech Legion fighting alongside Imperial Russian troops against Austria-Hungary. After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk liberated Austro-Hungarian POWs, these Legionnaires made their way eastward to Vladivostok to return home to fight for an independent Czech state. The Bolsheviks tried to ensure the Czechs were not a military force that could turn on the Revolution and began to disarm them. The Czechs eventually resisted. In May 1918, 60,000 Czech troops turned against the Bolsheviks, fighting at Penza, Samara, Sysran on the Volga, Kazan, which had a large arsenal, Simbirsk and Yekaterinburg. They occupied nearly the whole Volga region. They defeated a German-Hungarian force in Siberia before reaching Vladivostok which they took on June 29 after a skirmish with Bolshevik forces.

Japanese and American ships transported the Czecho-Slovak troops to the United States.

Japan landed troops in Vladivostok in support of a White Army under Admiral Kolchak. Japan retained control of Vladivostok until 1922.

'The "Graphic," in expressing the hope that Japanese troops will be able to rescue the Czecho-Slovaks in Siberia, says — "The American troops at Vladivostok arrived none too soon, but they show harmony in their operations."' — The Argus, Melbourne, August 19, 1918 (http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1410082)