In war, there will always be an opportunity to siphon off the state's money. Especially one that doesn't spare a penny, as long as you have the right paper. The Russian officers, who during the war with Japan in 1904-1905 were deeply behind the front lines, in field hospitals, knew this very well. They made quite a fortune with the forgery!
Vikentij Weresayev was a junior doctor during the Russo-Japanese struggle in Manchuria. Thrown into the very center of the events, after a few years he decided to describe them in his memories of the conflict so rich in humorous scenes.
His long-forgotten book (Na war:personal impressions of the author of The Doctor's Confession from the Russo-Japanese War) exposed the stupidity of the actions of the higher command and the nonsense of military regulations. It also showed to the full extent how corrupt the army of the Tsar's Batiushka was. And it must be admitted that the tsarist officers did not lack the imagination and commercial spirit! As Weresayev wrote:
Everyone in the army knew perfectly well that forage, wood and many other things troops take for free that in Mukden Chinese shops are completely openly selling false Chinese receipts for the requested sum ...
The Tsarina inspects medical supplies sent to the front. Instead, she could make sure that her husband's underlings did not steal by force!
It was enough to get the appropriate receipts (read:forge them) and you could apply for a completely free of charge.
Account reports were compiled, bills fabricated. If no Chinese was found to sign the bill, the senior writer was ordered to sign; he was copying a few Chinese letters from the long red stripes that profusely adorned the walls…
The author's conversations with the writer turned out to be particularly interesting, as he knew perfectly well what was going on in the unit's command due to his function. During one of these chats, Weresayev got to know the true face of his immediate superior:
(...) in the evening according to the writer's stories, he asked the host to sign some paper with his name; the paper stated that the undersigned had sold to our hospital as many, and so many poods of gaolon grains and rice straw, and that he received this sima in its entirety.
The Chinese got scared and began to refuse - Well, then don't sign your name, but what else does it matter - said the head doctor. The Chinese agreed, and as a reward he received 1 rs., And our law office was enriched with an inspection ticket for 617. 35 k. (False documents do not like round numbers)
Tsar Nicholas II, instead of posing for such portraits, should have disciplined his officers (Manizer's painting from 1905, public domain).
And since the writer was a terrible talker and he had to pour out his regrets in front of someone that he was getting too little for participating in this practice, he continued:
We sold 22 of the best camp horses and reported that 5 left and 17 died due to unaccustomed forage.
And further:
On thin Chinese paper it read: “I got the whole rs 85 for the sold ox ". They just didn't buy any ox. It is the same one that was previously bought. Forward, we entered it into the promotion sums (command board), and now we put it on a daily basis (food for the sick).
In Weresayev's book, the date of its publication was not given. In 1908, however, a Vilnius bookstore advertised its Polish edition as "new". So the doctor's memoirs must have appeared right after the Russo-Japanese War (excerpt from Kurjer Wileński)
However, the best example of the unpretentious stupidity of the tsarist suppliers is given in this quote:
I sent to the commissariat for canned food and barley, they did not spend it, you should have a demand. I wrote, I sent it. People come back with nothing, the demand should be written in ink not with a pencil, Tell me where to get the ink here? Thank God and for the fact that there was a shard of a pencil ... We left without receiving anything. And the next day all the trains were burned.
And how could a war be waged here? No wonder the mighty Russian Empire lost to tiny Japan. Because according to many historians, they were not Japanese at all, but corruption in their own ranks defeated the tsarist war machine.
Source:
Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting anecdotes, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes, based on single sources. This particular material is based on:
- W. Weresayev, In War:The Author's Personal Impressions "Doctor's Confessions ”from the Russo-Japanese War, Warsaw, no publication date [circa 1908].