Besides all their other difficulties, the Russian trouble was now added. In the early days of the campaign the Russian troops had fought very well, especially in the operations round Monastir. But the revolution in Russia had its reaction, although in an attenuated form, also in Macedonia. At first the trouble was caused by the partisans of the old régime, who appeared unwilling to go on fighting for the Russian Republic, and among these there was, it is said, a Brigadier-General. Then the poisonous Bolshevik infection began to spread among the troops, destroying all discipline and patriotic sentiment. Whereas formerly many of the officers had neglected and brutally ill-treated their men, and often embezzled the army funds, now the brutalized and ignorant soldiers began to refuse to obey them. The famous soldiers’ committees were formed, the result of which was the abolition of all respect for authority and the placing of a premium on cowardice and treachery. It was impossible to punish a soldier even if he were guilty of the most infamous crime without the judgment of the committee, and the latter invariably acquitted the accused. If the idiotic blunders of Kerenski and the ignoble infamies of Lenin and Trotzky did not produce such immediate and disastrous effects in Macedonia as they did in Russia, it is because the Russians were but a small minority among the other Allied troops who were not infected by the plague. At the time of the expedition to Greece the effects of revolutionary ideas among the Russian troops became even more visible, the conduct of the men being disgracefully undisciplined and scandalous. Then there were rumours of “fraternization” at the front between Russians and Bulgarians, and, although no very serious incidents seem to have occurred, the mere possibility of them was in itself alarming. The 7th and 8th Regiments gave most signs of insubordination and demoralization, and one of the most culpable individuals appear to have been Colonel Mindru, the Commander of the 7th Regiment, who hoped to make himself popular by placing himself at the head of the revolutionary movement. General Dietrich, an excellent officer, had been recalled to Russia in the summer of 1917, and after a series of temporary Commanders, General Taranowski had arrived at the beginning of November to take command of the division. But by that time the Bolshevik revolution was triumphant, and the Russian division was going to pieces. At the beginning of January 1918, the Soviets of the 3rd, 7th and 8th Regiments demanded to be withdrawn to the second line, whereas the 4th was ready to remain in the trenches. The more insubordinate elements were sent to North Africa to perform almost forced labour. The others were offered the choice of either continuing to fight or of working in Macedonia as paid labourers. A small minority requested to be sent to fight, and were shipped off to France where