Funeral in Petrograd

Jim Morse

Description

The Great War (now known to us as World War I) began in August 1914 when the huge Empire of Austria-Hungary invaded the small country of Serbia and Russia jumped in to defend her fellow Slavs. As the result of some alliances, the conflict quickly spread to involve the Germans, the French, the Belgians and the British.

It was clear, however, that Russia was in real trouble from the start. Despite its extensive manpower resources, it was already broke and lacked essential military equipment. Its most serious deficiencies, however, lay in the poor quality and dishonesty of many of its higher level officials.

Ten years earlier Tsar Nikolai II had already led Russia into a disastrous war with the Japanese and now seems to have learned nothing in the meantime. He still believes himself to be divinely empowered for his role. He is firmly opposed to sharing power with any elected legislature. Actually, he has managed to hold onto his position only because of the loyalty of a large and brutal secret police force. Even Russia’s allies, however, are beginning to doubt that public morale can hold up in the face of continued hunger and battle losses.

Back in 1905 the American president, Theodore Roosevelt had helped Russia extricate itself from its war with Japan on terms which could actually have been much worse. Thinking that perhaps the president might still have some influence with the tsar, some liberal officials in the Russian embassy secretly approach the American secretary of state and beg him to send Roosevelt to try to convince the tsar to at least liberalize his government, hinting that such a step might convince at least some American people to lend more support to Russia.

Although President Wilson is not optimistic, he does convince Roosevelt to make the trip. He is accompanied by a small team of supposedly neutral military observers. Included in the team is a Boston physician who had been a sergeant under Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War. He’s available at this time only because of the recent painful break-up of an engagement.

Before returning to college from the war, George Bird had spent several months in Russia teaching English and studying Russian. Now that he has returned to Russia, he’ surprised to learn that some local physicians know of his work with hemophilia and when the tsar’s affected son suffers an accident, they call on George for advice. The boy survives, and his sister Tatiana begins to flirt with George.

George soon has other interests, however. When he visits the church in Moscow that he had attended during his earlier stay, he finds that the woman he had grown fond of back then now has a husband missing in action.

Roosevelt soon becomes frustrated as he fails to change the tsar’s attitude. He plans to return to the States in a few weeks, but first he wants to visit the Austrian front (and once more see some “real” war). The tsar unenthusiastically agrees to take him along.

What happens at the front that day will change the course of the war and send George to Murmansk to care for black soldiers who are building a railroad.  He will later follow that regiment into combat.

Sujets

• Historical
• World War I
• Russia
• Alternate history
• Combat
• Funeral
• Romance
• Fiction
• Première Guerre mondiale
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Russie

Informations

• Publié par: James O. Morse
• Date de parution: 01 février 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780985620950
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE WAR TO END ALL WARS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FUNERAL
IN
PETROGRAD
| | | | | | | | | | |
 
An Alternate History of the Great War
 
 
 
JIM MORSE
 
 
Post Oak Press
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright 2018 by James O. Morse.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the author (except for brief passages that a reviewer may wish to quote).
 
Book and jacket design by The Book Cover Whisperer ProfessionalBookCoverDesign.com
 
ISBN: 978-0-9856209-5-0 eBook ISBN: 978-0-985620-94-3 Print
 
FIRST EDITION
 
 
 
 
 
 
TO MY GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN
with regrets for not being able to provide them
with an alternate climate .
 
CONTENTS
 
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
EPILOGUE
AFTERWORD
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? RUSSIA IN WORLD WAR I
SOME FACT ABOUT REAL CHARACTERS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 
 
 
CHAPTER 1
 

 
 
G eorge Bird finished the bland, warmed-over dinner his part-time housekeeper had prepared earlier, set the dirty dishes in the sink, picked up a medical journal, and collapsed into the only easy chair he had in his sparsely furnished bachelor apartment. As usual, he soon found it difficult to concentrate on what he was reading and was drifting off to sleep, when the jarring ring of the telephone roused him. Oh, why can’t the telephone company invent a more pleasant sound? he asked himself, as he sat up and staggered to his feet. Even the alarm clock’s not that bad.
Still half asleep, George made his way over to the apparatus mounted on the wall beside the kitchen door, lifted the receiver off the hook, and pressed it to his ear. “Hello,” he said, without much enthusiasm.
“Oh, George, Virginia’s gone!” wailed the voice on the other end. George recognized it easily. It was Clara’s. “What am I going to do?” she sobbed.
Why is Clara calling me now? he wondered. Surely, she can’t have forgotten that we are no longer engaged. And if she and her best friend, Virginia, have had some sort of disagreement, how can she think that I could or would help her patch it up?
He leaned down to the mouthpiece and gave a cautious response. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was thinking of leaving.”
Clara blew her nose, then tried to explain. “She was on the Lusitania !”
George was fully awake now, his mind a tangle of emotions. For a moment, he could say nothing. Then, finding his voice, he gasped, “Oh, Clara, that’s awful! But isn’t it possible she was one of those who made it to shore?”
“No, it isn’t,” Clara insisted. “Her mother just called to let me know Virginia’s name was not on the list of survivors.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that, Clara. I’m going to miss her too,” George assured her. “I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know when they’ve made arrangements for a memorial service.” If Clara is expecting more conversation than that, she’s going to be disappointed , he told himself.
But why had Clara called, anyway? Just to let him know about Virginia’s death so he, too, could grieve for her? Or was she expecting him to take her in his arms again and comfort her? He couldn’t deny he was tempted to do just that and hoped Clara wouldn’t suggest they meet again. He didn’t want to have to turn her down. He wasn’t sure he could turn her down. Damn! Why does she have to be so beautiful? Silently, he waited for her to say, “Goodbye” and hang up, but she didn’t.
Instead, he heard her say—in an anguished voice—“George, would it be possible for me to see you tomorrow? I feel I just have to talk with someone who knew Virginia as well as I did.”
What could he say? Under the circumstances, it would be cruel just to bluntly tell her no. Reluctantly, he agreed to meet her for lunch at a small café near the hospital, but not until one o’clock. He wanted to be sure he had enough time to finish rounds with the house staff and students first. He also hoped none of his friends would see him with Clara and think they were back together again. He couldn’t fully relax until he heard her say softly, “Well, goodbye, now. Take care of yourself, George.”
George’s hands trembled as he slowly replaced the receiver. Virginia was gone. He could hardly believe it. But why would she or any sensible American book passage on a ship to England nowadays? After all, the German embassy had been issuing clear warnings to Americans to avoid ships traveling to Great Britain and had even paid for advertisements in the New York City newspapers, stating that Germany considered the region around the British Isles a war zone and could be sinking Allied ships there without warning.
George felt his throat tighten as a wave of guilt swept over him. Whatever reasons Virginia might have had for traveling to England, she would not have gone at that time had George and Clara not broken their engagement. She was to have been the maid of honor, and she could not very well have departed until after the June wedding. Still, that was a consequence neither he nor Clara could have foreseen, he tried to tell himself. Anyway, from what he had heard, 1,200 other people had made the same mistake as Virginia.
Even before Clara’s call, that day—Monday, May 10, 1915—had, like most of George’s days in recent weeks, not been a pleasant one for him. The recurring thoughts he was still having about Clara and the energy he was expending in trying to suppress them had left him exhausted, Chances were that after that call from Clara and the news about Virginia, he was facing another restless night.
Maybe it was time to try something different. Rather than attempting to forget Clara, he would try, for one night, at least, to remember everything he could about their past relationship. Perhaps he would be better prepared for their meeting the next day if he again reviewed all the reasons they had for having canceled their marriage plans a few weeks earlier.
Hoping that he might get at least a few hours of sleep that night, George got into his nightshirt, turned off the light, and climbed into bed. He began by letting his mind drift back one year, to the day he had first met Clara. At the rehearsal dinner for the wedding of a friend, he had found himself seated next to this gorgeous creature with long blond hair and deep-blue eyes. To George, she had seemed the loveliest and most vivacious of all the bridesmaids. He had been flattered by the interest she showed in him and found himself defenseless before the smile she offered each time they made eye contact.
Although he had soon discovered that she was ten years younger than his thirty-six, that didn’t appear to bother her. It certainly didn’t bother him. Most men his age would probably have thought such an age difference ideal.
By the time the wedding reception was over, he had been introduced to her mother, who promptly invited him to dinner the next Friday evening. He had met her father, Robert McCrae, who was a surgeon, sometime earlier, at the medical school, but until that evening George had had no idea the man had such a lovely daughter.
He arrived at the McCrae residence a few minutes before eight on Friday evening and couldn’t help but be impressed by the size and elegance of the home. At least twelve rooms, George supposed, as he wondered how many other Boston surgeons might be this well off. He could only guess at the number of servants as he noticed some scurrying about to welcome him and serve the dinner. For a moment, he thought of his dear mother and how burdened she had been by raising a family with no outside “help” at all.
Other guests included Clara’s older brother and his wife, who had “four children at home,” according to Clara. My mother certainly looked older than that by the time she’d had four , thought George. Then again, she had no nursemaids to help her care for them .
After the meal, the party retired to the parlor to hear Clara play two classical pieces on the grand piano, before continuing the conversation a while longer.
As the guests were thanking their hosts for a lovely evening and streaming out the door to their waiting carriages or motor vehicles, George had just turned away from the group and started down the sidewalk toward the streetcar line, when he heard Clara’s faint call. He turned to hear her say, “Wait, George—there may be a car going that way.”
He waved to let her know he had heard her and called, “Okay.” Maybe