SECRET COOPERATION OF GEORGIAN PATRIOTS AND JAPANESE DURING THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR (1904-1905)

Abstract

During the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. Due to this, Georgian and Japanese soldiers found themselves on opposite sides. Even though they had to fight against each other on the battlefield, they had a mutual enemy - the Russian Empire, so during the war Georgians secretly cheered for the victory of the Japanese.

The cooperation of Japanese intelligence officer Motojiro Akashi and Georgian patriot, member of Georgian Socialist-Federal Revolutionary Party Giorgi Dekanozishvili against the Russian Empire is comparatively known in Georgian historiography. Among them, the authors of the most significant studies are Dimitri Shvelidze and Giorgi Gaprindashvili: the monograph "Giorgi Dekanozishvili - Return of Patriot", as well as the joint monograph of Georgian Giorgi Mamulia and Japanese Higashi Kuromiya "The Eurasian Triangle Russia, The Caucasus and Japan, 1904-1945". Certain parts of the monographs mentioned above refer to the relationship between Motojiro Akashi and Giorgi Dekanozishvili. In addition to Georgian historians, the stated issue was essentially touched upon by foreign researchers, among whom is the Japanese historian Chiharu Inaba, with his monograph "Operation Akashi - Russia-Japan War Conspiracy", Russian historians D. Pavlov and S. Petrov's joint monograph "Secrets of the Russo-Japanese War: Inside the Intelligence War Revealed in Russian Historical Materials."

In disparity to Georgian historians, in the works of foreign researchers, information about Giorgi Dekanozishvili is little, and in many cases incorrectly conveyed. The purpose of this article is to analyze the facts investigated by the existing studies and to introduce certain scientific innovations.

In 1904, when the Russo-Japanese War broke out, patriots of various nationalities occupied by the Russian Empire hoped that the Russian Empire would be defeated in the war and regain their independence or gain extensive autonomy. Thus, in parallel with the war, movements for the restoration of independence began in the countries annexed by the Russian Empire, especially in Poland, Finland and Georgia.

Japan was interested in internal disturbances in the Russian Empire, so that Russia would no longer have the means to wage war freely in the Far East. For this purpose, the Japanese intelligence colonel, the military attaché of the Swedish embassy Akashi, met with the activist of the Finnish independence movement, Konni Zilliacus, and they planned to organize an armed uprising in the Russian Empire.

2 congresses of political parties with an anti-tsarist spirit were organized by Zilliacus: on September 30, 1904, in Paris and on April 2-9, 1905, in Geneva. The meetings were held with Japanese funding, although most of the attendees knew nothing about it. Giorgi Dekanozishvili participated in both congresses. At the Geneva Congress, a decision was made to launch an armed rebellion in the Russian Empire in July 1905. To finance the rebellion, Akashi received 1,000,000 Yen from Tokyo.

The purchase of weapons had to be done secretly from "Okhranka" (The Russian Secret Police). They were actively following Akashi, Zilliacus, Dekanozishvili, etc. Therefore, it was decided that the Poles would purchase weapons themselves, and Zilliacus would find and buy the rest of the weapons. In order to distract "Okhranka", Akashi and Zilliacus decided not to purchase weapons from military factories. It was thought that it would be better to buy old guns because old guns were cheaper and could be purchased in relatively larger quantities than in the case of new guns. Zilliacus was not able to secretly purchase weapons from "Okhranka", so it was necessary for the Georgians to carry out this most difficult mission.

Zilliacus was avoided from the purchase of weapons and it was entrusted to the Georgian patriots. In my opinion, Akash realized that Dekanozishvili had the ability to solve the problem and that's why he made this decision. It is clear that for Akash and the armed rebellion against the Russian Empire, Dekanozishvili became the most important figure than Tsiliakus.

Dekanozishvili was able to purchase weapons in Switzerland with the help of Varlam Cherkezishvili. He knew the Swiss anarchist Eugène Baud, it was with Baud's help that Dekonazishvili was able to purchase the necessary weapons for the uprising. Furtively from "Okhranka" he bought weapons intended for the uprising in St. Petersburg, and only after that he bought weapons for Georgia. There are different opinions regarding the number of weapons. Inaba writes that Dekanozishvili bought 6,000 rifles and 1,500,000 cartridges. Tughushi points to 7,000 rifles and 1,100,000 cartridges, while Shvelidze and Gaprindashvili determined based on the analysis that he bought 8,000 rifles and 2 million cartridges. I do not agree with the opinions expressed above and I believe that Dekanozishvili purchased 8,500 rifles. My guess is based on the diaries of the people involved in this operation. Both Motojiro Akashi and Giorgi Dekanozishvili write in their diaries that they bought 8,500 guns, and it is impossible for anyone else to know the exact number of guns better than them. Kuromiya and Mamulia are of the same opinion, and they verify it from the entry in Akashi's diary.

After purchasing the weapons, the second problem arose how to transport these weapons to St. Petersburg and Georgia without detection by Russian intelligence and coast guard. Akash was actively involved in the transportation of weapons destined for the Baltic, i.e. St. Petersburg, and with the help of personal connections he was able to transfer them from Basel to England via Rotterdam. He also purchased the 315-ton water vessel "John Grafton" through his acquaintances. The selection of the ship's crew was entrusted to Zilliacus. The "John Grafton" was then loaded and prepared to transport the weapons to the Baltic Sea.

On September 7, 1905, the "John Grafton", loaded with 16,000 guns and 2,500,000 cartridges, ran aground in the Baltic Sea, the crew managed to unload only part of the weapons, and on September 8, the ship blew up. The Russian Coast Guard still managed to recover 9,670 "Vetterli" rifles, 720 revolvers and a large amount of ammunition from the ship damaged by the explosion.

In contrast to the fact that Akash actively participated in sending weapons to the Baltic Sea, he did not participate at all in transporting weapons to Georgia. According to the available materials, at the end of August, Dekanozishvili bought the weapons almost alone in Switzerland, and on September 6, through the mediation of the Dutch anarchist Peter Cornelissen, he bought a 597-ton outdated ship "Sirius" for transporting the weapons to Georgia for about 93,000 pounds. Peter Cornelissen's brother, Christian, was chosen as the captain of the ship, and he hired Dutch anarchists and French sailors as a crew. In order to distract from "Okhranka", the weapon was first sent from Switzerland to the port of Amsterdam (Holland), on October 13 from the port of Amsterdam to Georgia.

It is also interesting how much money Dekanozishvili received from Akash. If we rely on the materials distributed by "Okhranka", we can confirm that on May 2, 1905, Akashi handed over 125,000 Francs. From the surviving receipts we can confirm that he paid 60,600 Francs for 7,000 rifles and 1,300,000 cartridges, and 93,000 Francs for "Sirius", which is a total of 28,000 Francs more than what he received from Akashi on May 2. At that time, the Revolutionary Party of Georgian Socialist-Federalists was in great financial difficulty, so it could not receive additional funds from Georgia. In addition, Dekanozishvili wrote in his diary of 1905 that he had received 200,000 Francs. It seems that he later received an additional 75,000 Francs from Akashi, although unfortunately there are no surviving sources to confirm this either.

On November 22, 1905, "Sirius" docked 40 miles from Poti, but could not be unloaded in time because the receiving party was not ready to receive the weapons. According to Pavlov and Petrov, the weapons were unloaded only on November 24. 4 gunships loaded with weapons arrived on the shores of Georgia, from which the Russian coast guard and police confiscated 2,000 rifles. However, different information can be found in the existing studies and memories regarding the number of weapons and ammunition.

From the memoirs of Tedo Sakhokia, we learn that only 3,000 rifles were received, and the rest were thrown into the sea. In the letter sent to Dekanozishvili, Sakhokia writes a slightly different story. According to the letter, we understand that 3 ships were sent to receive weapons, each of which contained 1,500 rifles. Due to the bad weather, 1 boat ran aground in Poti Bay and they were forced to unload the weapons, but the police found and confiscated 600 guns, and the rest were seized by the population. The second schooner was chased by the Coast Guard and arrested, only the third schooner was fully loaded with weapons.

Due to the abundance of information, how many weapons the Socialist-Federalists actually received is unknown. Shvelidze and Gaprindashvili, as a result of the analysis of the sources available to them, assumed that at least 2,900 rifles and 400,000 cartridges were taken. In my opinion, their analysis is correct and the number named should represent reality.

On December 24, 1905, Akashi received a letter from an unidentified person, which he later referred to in a report sent to headquarters. The content of the letter is as follows: "The weapons arrived safely in the Black Sea, we bought back 8,400 rifles from the weapons confiscated by the cruiser "Asia". Since the author of the letter is not indicated, Mamulia and Kuromia assume that this letter was written by Dekanozishvili. In my opinion, the author of the letter must be Konnie Zilliacus.

Since Dekanozishvili sent 8,500 rifles to Georgia, we can conclude from the available information that about 2,900 rifles were indeed received by the Georgians, and the coast guard confiscated about 1,600 rifles, and the remaining weapons were thrown into the Black Sea. Considering all this, they could not buy back 8,400 rifles. It is more likely that of the 9,670 guns taken from the blown-up "John Grafton", the above-mentioned 8,400 were recovered. This assumption is supported by the fact that I researched the information about the cruiser "Asia", which revealed that the cruiser "Asia" mentioned in the letter was built in the USA in 1873, and in 1878 it was purchased by the Russian Empire, which in 1905 was enrolled in the Baltic Sea Coast Guard. Accordingly, it could not be confiscated the weapons sent to the Black Sea.

Despite receiving a part of the weapon, Dekanozishvili's goal could not be achieved. The excitement and disobedience that started in Georgia, in the encouragement of which the Revolutionary Party of Georgian Socialist-Federalists had contributed, was suppressed by the Russian Empire with cruel methods. However, in the history of Georgian-Japanese relations, his and Motojiro Akashi's secret cooperation against the common enemy, the Russian Empire, occupies a truly worthy place. This was the first important connection between Georgians and Japanese.