The Collapse of the Russian Empire

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 24, 24 December 1931, Page 3

The Collapse of the Russian Empire

Told by ex-

Major-General

B. S.

Merlin

What should prove to be one of the most interesting series of talks yet broadcast in New Zealand will be commenced at 2YA on January 2, when Mr. B. S. Merlin, ex-Major-General in the Russian Imperial Forces, will relate the first of his experiences during the collapse of the Russian Empire and the dissolution of the army. o

F LEEING disguised as a bugler from the seat of war waged by one of Russia’s noblest divisions of horse which he had commanded; recognised by a Soviet 3 captured; thrown into a dingy prison; brought before a military tribunal on which were sitting as his judges employees from a steel factory ; long harangues with an unsympathetic president and final acquittal and escape-these are but flashes of the poignant and thrilling story that Major-General B. S. Merlin will relate during a series of six talks from 2YA. Now Mr. B. S. Merlin, statistical clerk and interpreter in the Post and Telegraph Department, the former major-general belongs to one of the oldest and proudest families of Russia’s landed aristocracy. But with the coming of Sovietism has gone all the glory and power of the old regime. ° They are memories only-but glorious memories, and though far greater than territorial boundaries separate him from his beloved Russia, the General js still at heart a Russian-a Russian of a Rugsia that has gone. Once the ruler of a beautiful palace standing in 400 acres .of parks and gardens and surrounded by an estate of four and a half thousand acres, Mr. Merlin and his wife now occupy a comfortable little flat in Oriental Bay. It is just above the tram terminus and from its veranda one looks out over the city, the shipping and the harbour. It is a beautiful spot, quiet and restful, and here the General has chosen to make his home and to preserve what is possible of the world that was once his. | It was in the early ‘evening that the writer met for the first time one who was so distinguished, so interesting \apd so friendly. He told me briefly of his career and in more the chain of events that had brought him from the head of‘one of Russia’s proudest cavalry divisions and one of the finest country seats, to the New Zealand Public Service and a flat in Oriental Bay-but there was not one word of remorse or criticism. My host not even expressed a wish that things should be otherwise, yet when, as I was leaving, we stood on his porch and, looking over the twinkling lights of the city, conversed

briefly on the beauties of Wellington by night I became conscious of a feeling of regret that the tide of change should work so drastically and ruthlessly. Major-General Merlin was educated at the Corps of Pages of his Imperial Majesty the Tsar, and eventually became a page of her Majesty the Tsarina. At the age of 20 he received a lieutenancy in the Dragoon Guards attached to the Court.

| HIS was the commencement of a distinguished military career which took him to the Russo-Japanese War, to the Russian legation at Tokio, to the intelligence service for South-Eastern .

Europe (of which he was in charge) to. the command of a crack brigade selected to go to France (which, however, did’. not go), and ultimately as a major- . general to the head of a cavalry division. "We were fighting on the SouthEastern Front when the revolution broke out," Mr. Merlin told me. "My division were not revolutionaries but they were tired of war-they wanted to go home and get away from it all. A handful of Bolsheviks came by train-we could have annihilated them, but it was no use. The | seeds of discontent had been spread, and I realised that I must flee. My wife had gone to Odessa, taking with her a few of the family treasures, and I endeavoured to reach her. After wandering about the country, now in hiding, now pursued, always like a hunted animal, I assumed the disguise of a bugler and attempted to get away by train. I was recognised, arrested, thrown into prison and finally brought before a military court. ; : "The trial was long and difficult. It seemed that there was but little hope of my ever escaping from the clutches of the Soviet. They were charging me with being a spy for, of course, when apprehended I was not wearing the uniform of my rank. But I was at length acquitted and allowed to join my wife. We made our way to (Concluded on page 5.) _

Collapse of Russian Empire (Continued from page 3.)

Japan, afterwards coming south tothe Dutch Hast Indies and from there tv New Zealand." Most of the family treasures were destroyed by looters, but out of the chaos a few oddments were saved, including a number of photographs which now are the sole relic of the life that was. They are groups, some going far back when the general was a youth in the Dragoons; others, personal pictures taken at various events scattered through the general’s life; the royal pictures, so dear to the old regime; distinguished friends, including autvgraphed photos of Sir Charles and Lady Alice Fergusson, who were intimate friends of the Merlins, and beautiful print of the greatest of all! generals, Napoleon, without which no soldier’s study would be complete. The general, who incidentally speaks a dozen languages, has an almost perfect control of English. He even writes the language, has had work published by a prominent magazine, and has written a novel. The series of talks comprising a continued account of his adveutures with the Soviet, has been prepared for publication, but has so far not yet appeared. Even now, when no longer head of a magnificent division of 12,000 horse, the general maintains that vigour and enthusiasm which won for him the approbation of the Royal Court of Russia and the love of his men. His work in the Post Office is hard and exacting, yet his day is not finished at half past four, and during the rest of his time he busies himself on his private typewriter or with other tasks that only a man of his ability and perseverance would undertake.