19 July 1917. Alfred Knox

Non-fiction

Project 1917 is a series of events that took place a hundred years ago as described by those involved. It is composed only of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other documents

Alfred Knox

On Tuesday afternoon Balaban told me that he was sending out mixed detachments of each one squadron Cossacks, half a squadron cavalry and fifty rifles of the Preobrajenski to clear the streets. I suggested that fifty rifles was too little, and he said he would consult the O.O. Regiment. As a matter of fact, the Cossacks went out alone. Thornhill had slept in the Embassy on Monday night. I moved there on Tuesday, and we both remained there till to-day.

Princess Soltykov came across to dinner, and we were just finishing when William, the Chasseur, ran in to say that the Cossacks were charging the sailors. Some ninety Cossacks had charged across the Champ de Mars on 200 Kronstadt sailors, who fled precipitately into the Marble Palace. We arrived late for the fnn, but saw the Cossacks ride past, many of them with three or four rifles slung across their backs. They rode past the front of the Embassy up the Quay. In a few minutes two Cossacks returned on foot, escorting a prisoner, who appealed to a crowd of idle Pavlovski men to rescue him. One Cossack dropped him, but the other, a big fellow, held on to him like a man. He was one against twenty, and the cowards surged round him and overpowered him. The prisoner got free and at once bolted. A hero of the Pavlovski drew the Cossack’s sword, and, while the others held back, gave him a swinging blow with it on the head. It seemed like cold-blooded murder of a man who had remained true to his salt, and we in the window above, being diplomats, could do nothing, not even shout, much less run down to tackle one or two of the brutes.

The Cossack, however, was only stunned for a moment, and then collected himself and ran off after his squadron. The other man ran in the opposite direction, and the insurgents fired several shots at both, but without hitting either.

A few minutes later there was a stampede of riderless horses down the Quay, and some five of them fell on the pavement at the corner in front of the Embassy. We learned later that the squadron had been ambushed and had suffered several casualties from machine-gun fire.

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