Czech Legion Siberia Russia Feldpost Polni Posta Expertized
Item #:99410
FrankingFP
Price$249.00
Polni Posta / Feldpost / Field Post cover from member of the Russian Czech Legion - Polni Posta Vojsko na Rusi. Expertized Gilbert lower right Worn, genuine use, as per scans. In one of the lesser known but more remarkable stories of WWI, Czech POW's in Russian camps volunteered to fight their former masters in the form of the Austrian Empire, hoping (correctly) that if the Allies on the war, Czechoslovakia could get its long-sought-after independence from the Habsburgs. The were organized and fought heroically for the Czar at Zborov. But the Communists took over, exited the war, and didn't like all of those foreign nationals with guns. So they tried to disarm them, which didn't turn out so well. The Czech's turned on the faithless Reds and fought their way across Russia and Siberia on the Trans-Siberian Railway until they reached the Pacific, where they were eventually evacuated by the Allies long after the end of WWI, in 1920. Interestingly, the Czar and his family were being kept in Ekaterinburg, which was on the railway, and were executed as the Czechs approached, fearing the Legion would free the Imperials.

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