April 1917
British Major-General Alfred W. F. Knox's April eye-witness account of "Agitation in the Russian Army" following the collapse of the Czarist government
"The state of the Petrograd garrison is evident. Three-fourths of the officers, including all of the best, have been expelled by the men, who do exactly as they like. No work is being done. No officer dares to give punishment. Perhaps the state of the Petrograd garrision is unavoidable, but there is no excuse for allowing agitators to visit troops at the front. If the visits of politicians, of every shade of opinion, to the army area were stopped, the unfortunate officers might have some chance of restoring discipline before active operations commence. If these visits continue, the Russian army will not be able to pin down the seventy-two German and forty-two Austrian divisions, now in the Eastern theatre, and a large part of these divisions will be added to the 147 divisions with which Russia's allies have now to contend in the Western theatre. In other words, it is Russia's allies that will have to pay for the demoralisation that is being allowed to set in in the Russian army in the field." (591)
