A FAMOUS HOAX.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 88, 16 April 1915, Page 4

A FAMOUS HOAX.

Tito famous hoax of tlio first weeks of war, when a body of Russian sol-! diors, said to mimlier from 100,000 to 200,000 men, was reported to have circled around from Archangel, landed in Scottish ports and been shipped through at night to reinforce the .British forces in France, originated with Lord Kitchener himself, according to it .statement made hy a British officer to a correspondent of the “Daily Dispatch.’’ It is it noteworthy fact that

although the myth spread like wildfire through the United Kingdom, with any number of witnesses to swear they had seen and talked to the Russians in their native language, the Press Bureau did not issue an official contradiction for a long time. The [Russian story, says the British officer, was designed to impress the derman commanders in Belgium and [Northern France, and to keep them in fear of a surprise either in the rear or on the western flank. It accomplished its purpose, for this dread was real among the German staff, and accounts to some extent for the retreat of General von Klnck from Paris. To give colour to the report, Lord Kitchener is said to have causedj a hundred transports laden with sun-j dry goods to he sent from Scottish j ports to Archangel, after insuring' them in Holland. And when the British troops were moved from various points in Scotland and the north of England to Channel ports, he, ordered the blinds of the trains to he, lowered so as to arouse popular; curiosity and speculation.