Breakdown of Discipline on the Front
M. V. Alekseev, General Alekseev to War Minister Guchkov. April 16, 1917
After the monarchy fell, the Provisional Government struggled to maintain discipline at the front. This report describes a regiment that refused to relieve other units, citing inadequate equipment and excessive trench time. Appeals to "revolutionary patriotism" fell flat; soldiers suggested that Petrograd's "war to victory" supporters take their places. The incident prompted General Alekseev's assessment for War Minister Guchkov.
Original Source: L. S. Gaponenko, ed. Revoliutsionnoe dvizhenie v russkoi armii v 1917 g. (Moscow, 1968), pp. 61-62.
The situation in the army grows worse every day: information coming in from all sides indicates that the army is systematically falling apart.
(1) Desertions continue unabated: in the armies of the Northern and Western fronts between April 1 and 7, 7,688 soldiers are reported as deserters ... a number manifestly and considerably underestimated ...
(2) Discipline declines with each passing day; those guilty of violating military duty are completely indifferent to possible criminal punishments, convinced of the extreme unlikelihood of enforcement.
(3) The authority of officers and commanders has collapsed and cannot be restored by present methods. Owing to undeserved humiliations and assaults, the de facto removal of their authority over subordinates, and the surrender of such control to soldiers' committees ... the morale of the officer corps has sunk to a new low.
(4) A pacifist mood has developed in the ranks. Among the soldier mass, not only is the idea of offensive operations rejected, but even preparations for such, on which basis major violations of discipline have occurred ...
(5) Defeatist literature and propaganda has built itself a firm nest in the army. This propaganda comes from two sides -from the enemy and from the rear ... and obviously stems from the same source.
Source: Alan Wildman, The End of the Russian Imperial Army: The Old Army and the Soldiers' Revolt (March-April 1917) (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), pp. 335-6.