The Key West Citizen

RED NAPOLEON READY FOR FAR EAST TROUBLE

RUSSIA COUNTS ON MARSHAL BLUECHER TO MAINTAIN POSITION IF WAR COMES WITH JAPAN

By The AP Feature Service

Upon the strategy of a bushy-browed "Red Napoleon" hang Soviet Russia's hopes for maintaining her position in the far east if war comes with Japan.

Marshal Vasily Konstantinovich Bluecher, veteran Asiatic campaigner, commands an estimated 400,000 men in eastern Siberia. Clashes between some of his units and Japanese-led troops along the Siberian-Manchukuan border have given the world as many war scares as the conflict in Spain.

Ready For Year's Siege

Should the long-feared conflict break out, Bluecher would be practically on his own. Fresh troops and supplies would lie thousands of miles away, in Russia proper. But the marshal, a veteran Asiatic campaigner, is reported prepared to fight for at least a year without aid.

Bluecher is 48 years old. He has a bulbous nose, typically Russian, and a bristling mustache. Hard, cold eyes stare from under his heavy brows.

Of humble origin, he was an agitator against the czar and was frequently in trouble with pre-revolutionary authorities. During the World war he was wounded while fighting with the czar's army and subsequently discharged from service.

Most Important Post

He resumed revolutionary activities and during the civil war won renown as a red army commander. In 1935, when titles were introduced into the soviet armed forces, he was elevated to the rank of "Marshal of the Soviet Union." His present post is considered to be the most important under the red flag.

Three years ago, while addressing a communist congress in Moscow, Bluecher described the formation of a Soviet army strong enough to "administer a blow capable of cracking and in some places destroying the very foundation of capitalism" should war break out between Russia and Japan.